My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol
by VeryHotCurry
Summary: When the Symbol of Peace: Captain Power is unexpectedly killed by a mysterious villain, his family (including his sister Hanako Midoriya and father Izuku Midoriya) think the quirk One For All has died with him, as he failed to find a successor. However, they find that the quirk has mysteriously manifested in an originally quirkless boy named Ichiro Kanzagi. SYOC, OC centric.
1. Chapter 1

13/01/2019

 **Hello, I just wanted to give some info on how things are. I'm going to try and update this story every week until I reach some semblance of an ending. I have a** _ **very**_ **vague idea as to what that might be but it really all depends. This is my first time writing so I would appreciate some reviews, whether they're praise or criticism. I want to turn this into SYOC so send your characters through PM, although more on that the end.**

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

The pure, bright, orange flames were visible from pretty much everywhere in Musutafu. Horrifying sounds of screams and terror echoed down the many streets and alleyways. Somewhere in the middle of the city was a huge crater stained with crimson blood, and, amongst all the reigning chaos, the cries of agony, the roaring inferno, stood two silhouetted figures, concealed by dust. A malicious laugh came from one of the figures whilst a news helicopter hovered overhead.

"You are the last thing in my way to achieving an ideal society… symbol of peace." Declared the hovering man, still hidden.

"You… what would cause anyone to commit an atrocity like this." Replied the other figure, a determined glint appearing in his eyes. Finally, the dust cleared, leaving a colossal field of debris in its wake. The determined man stumbled, despite keeping a kind, confident smile on his face and the hovering man, still hidden, laughed villainously once again. The surrounding area was utterly devastated: destroyed buildings, crumbling statues. The remnants of the great stone sculpture of the legendary hero All-Might was in pieces, only his head remaining whole. The hovering man spoke again,

"How sad, the destroyed statue of the symbol of peace is foreshadowing what's to come. I will not fail to defeat you like All For One failed to defeat your silly father Izuku Midoriya!" The hovering man exclaimed, a cruel look in his eyes, the only things visible except his silhouette.

"How dare you!" Screamed Toshinori Midoriya,

" I was named after a symbol of peace, and I am the son of another. I have now taken up that mantle, and I will defeat you!" pronounced the Symbol of peace, Vigilantly. The pale, lean, but muscular man took a step forward. He brandished a white bodysuit that clearly defined his muscles, with black stripes lacing the arms and a place where a cape would have been tied, although he lost that cape only a short time after the battle began. He had brown hair with one long green streak across the middle. _I can't lose this. If I die then society won't stand a chance. This man is on a completely different level than All For One and I only just learned to fully control One For All, and it still puts a bunch of strain on my body!_ The symbol of peace _,_ Captain Power thought. The statement was true; Captain Power put immense strain on his body whenever he used his quirk, One For All at its full power. However, the bright yellow lightning still coursed swiftly through and around him, causing his skin to have a hopeful glow among the gloom and darkness. From above, the news helicopter gave updates on the situation. A young man with scruffily cut brown hair announced,

" The number one hero Captain Power is currently engaging a mysterious but devastatingly powerful villain in combat. The villains rampage beforehand caused the death of two pro heroes, Nomad and Paint Warrior. We are currently not sure of the causalities but things are starting to look bleak. We'll… con …" The man stopped, as if something was caught in his throat – and something was, it was fear. " We will continue to update on the current situation." Squeaked the news reporter. Although it had been a good few minutes since the powerhouse's last class the smoke was only now clearing on the villains side. What stood was a man, or at least what looked like a man. He had sharp smug eyes with stormy grey irises that cut with a simple glare; he had long, rather spiky dark hair and wore a long black cloak that went down to his knees. He gave off a hubristic aura that greatly annoyed Captain Power. The villain's lip and right eye had two huge scars struck across them and his general face had blood smothered all over it.

" I'll end you and build my society where everyone is equal; no one will be shut out because of their differences, all united under one all powerful leader." Said the villain nefariously.

"And don't think that just because you have that quirk One For All you'll be able to beat me" the villain continued, sniggering.

"H-How did you know?" Captain Power queried, both surprised and furious.

"I was once a part of the league of villain if you must know, even after the defeat and death of All For One and Tomura Shigaraki at the hands of your father, the knowledge of One For All remained present." The cloaked man explained,

"I knew how to recognise the quirk and its properties as well, all thanks to the league of villains. On the other hand, they were foolish and unorganized – especially without their precious leaders." The villain sneered,

"So I decided to take matters into my own hands, I offered those who I thought had potential a place in my new society and slaughtered those who defied me or who had zero potential!" He chuckled maniacally, which sent shivers down Captain power's spine. Now, the battlefield was a blank slate, an occasional piece of debris but mainly dirt and concrete, ready for the ensuing calamity.

"But what about you? You haven't spoken much yet. Do you have anything to say?"

"Who are you?"

"I don't see why it's relevant but, as it will be some of the last words you hear, my name… is Venger. Anything else?"

"Yeah."

"Well, go on then."

"You talk too much."

And with that a blinding flash of yellow light charged forward; Venger clenched his fist in response and not only did Captain Power suddenly feel much heavier, but he was also being pushed away by some sort of force.

"He must have a gravity manipulation quirk!" sputtered the Symbol of Peace, clenching his teeth and raising his broad arms to defend against the many pieces of stone bolting towards him.

"Congratulations! You finally figured it out. Now it's – "

A roar of anger cut the babbling villain off,

"SHUT UP!" Captain Power thundered and landed an incredibly powerful punch to the villain's stomach. Immediately, Venger spat out whatever was in his stomach, which included a bit of blood, and his eyes whited out. He then proceeded to go flying into a nearby building, landing with a THUD.

"Let it be over." Captain Power pleaded looking at the sky, which was beginning to spit rain. A few seconds later the villain crawled out of his hole in the wall,

"Damn it. I let my guard down… It won't happen again." Decreed Venger. _He's still not down yet! No!_ Thought the hero. _It's time to give this everything I've got._

"I'll finish this right now!" bellowed Venger as he began to hover in the air. The hero chuckled melancholically,

"Funny, I was about to the say the same thing to you"

"Increase gravity, devastating atomic push!" screamed Venger.

"PLUS ULTRA! DETROIT SMASH!" Roared the Symbol of peace in reply. As soon as the force of the attacks collided, utter chaos reigned: hurricane level winds flew as the already destroyed surrounding buildings toppled and the ground for miles shook violently. After a good few minutes, the immediate dust cleared. The news helicopter – which fled from earlier – had returned to see the outcome of the ferocious battle.

"We are about to get a visual and we can declare that the outcome is…" The man's face went as white as a ghost as a single, cold bead of sweat ran down his cheek. The villain was standing, bloody and hurt, but standing…

Over Captain Power's limp body.

 **So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's more of a prologue/introduction to set up the events of the story; the main characters get introduced in the next few chapters.**

 **If you want to send in your own OC for class 1A, 1B, the league of villains or any pro heroes, then send it through PM titled with your characters name and their quirk.**

 **Make sure you give their full name, any nicknames, a (reasonably detailed) description of their appearance and their quirk. Make sure to list their quirks strengths, weaknesses and possible upgrades or super moves. Also give a description of their backstory, personality, goals, ideals and list whether you may want them to have their own personal mini-arc. Please try not to make the Quirks too overpowered as I already have the main players in mind but, depending on the character, I may accept a few, but** _ **only**_ **a few. Of course I'll be much more lenient with the pros and villains but please do keep this in mind.**

 **Lay it out something like this:**

 **Name:**

 **Nickname:**

 **Appearance:**

 **Personality:**

 **Goals/Ideals:**

 **Quirk: (Quirk name)**

 **(Quirk description)**

 **Casual Outfit:**

 **Attributes:**

 **Power (How hard they can hit): /10**

 **Speed (how quickly they can move): /10**

 **Quirk (How powerful their quirk is): /10**

 **Technique (How skilled they are in terms of quirk use and without quirk use): /10**

 **Intelligence (How academic, strategic and understanding they are): /10**

 **Keep in mind that most attributes will be somewhere around the 5 mark, for students definitely, as Captain Power has a 10 in most categories and most people in the story aren't even close to his strength. Let me show you what his attributes would look like:**

 **Captain Power:**

 **Power: 10/10**

 **Speed: 10/10**

 **Quirk: 10/10**

 **Technique: 9/10**

 **Intelligence: 7/10**

 **These are top notch attributes so try to keep this in mind as well. At last, give any extra info you think might be useful and try to leave a review, thanks again.**


	2. Chapter 2

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

 _Dead._ No one could believe what he or she had heard. Even after a few days had went by, people refused to accept the fact that there 'Symbol of Peace', their 'Number one Hero' had been defeated, let alone be killed. Thousands of memorial marches were held across the country and some wept for hours, and, there was one woman amongst it all who wept the most:

Hanako Midoriya awoke, half expecting that all of the chaos of the last few days was just a dream. The woman rubbed her almond eyes and pushed her long, brown hair out of her face, then reached over to her phone and checked the date. It read: 10: 23, _17_ _th_ _June 2210._ As per usual, Hanako unlocked her phone and sluggishly pressed the Internet icon – which was a small blue orb with a white circle in its centre. Immediately closing her eyes as the site began to load, she prayed with all she had that it was all just a dream. _No_ she thought. _It all feels too real_. Unfortunately, she was correct. The first news article on the world's new most used search engine (Rooble) read: **Captain Power Dead. Who was the mysterious villain?** Despite being the brother of Toshinori Midoriya (Captain Power), she truly had no clue. The first thing that sprang to mind when she heard the news was All For One; he had so many different quirks, surely he would be able to survive this long. _No. My father, as well as uncle Shoto and uncle Katsuki, saw his death; they were the ones who killed him after all. And, All For Ones body is in a high security bunker, guarded day and night and, according to the last check, it was definitely still there._ Hanako brushed the thought aside. _All of the other powerful villains are either dead or in containment._ Hanako, once again, wrote the idea off as impossible. Slowly, the woman rose from her bed. She had become lethargic over the past few days, cry, eat, sleep, repeat was her routine recently. It was time to face the world.

In the downstairs area of her huge mansion, Hanako sipped at her cup of coffee, almost enjoying the tranquillity of the moment. Her huge, modern, house was located in the North-West of Musutafu; the house was worth about 434 million yen (about 4 million US dollars), which was earned through her own turbulent work. She was born with the quirk Telekinetic touch: She is able to telekinetically control anything she touches; however the limit is three tons. The quirk was a fusion of her mother's quirk (Zero Gravity) and her grandmother's quirk (which allows her to telekinetically manipulate small objects). It was a decent quirk, one that many told her could belong to a great her one day, but Hanako never wanted to be a hero. She went to UA for general studies and graduated easily, being offered a place in the hero course like her brother many times. She then, ever vigilant, went to a Oxford university and graduated with a PHD in Science, Literature, Law and Economics then was signed by the biggest hero tech company in the world, West Tek, to develop new hero technology for a ludicrously high salary. Hanako's twin brother on the other hand was a very different story. Toshinori was born only with their paternal grandmother's quirk, a relatively weak quirk. However, the adamant boy aspired to be a great hero just like his father; his wish was granted when Hanako and Toshinori's father gifted One For All to Toshinori at the mere age of 10. Kindly, Izuku had never actively pushed either of his children to become heroes, but when Hanako revealed that she didn't want to be a hero, Izuku's mind was made up and he passed his quirk on to Toshinori – who wanted to be a hero, more than anything. Swiftly, Toshinori rose through the hero rankings and managed to control One For All at its full power by the age of 24, after his expected graduation from UA. Easily the most powerful hero in the world, as Izuku's use of One For All began to deteriorate, Toshinori became the number one hero and the symbol of peace, and nobody expected that he would die, especially whilst in his prime. However, now that her brother _was_ dead, they were effectively doomed as long as there was a villain strong enough to take him out. She tried not to think about it and trudged melancholically back to her room.

Hanako stared at the 38-year-old woman in the mirror. She had bloodshot eyes with shadowed bags underneath from sleepless nights crying; her brown hair was messy and her shoulders drooping; she sported a long sleep gown that had many, many watermarks on it and her rather lean figure seemed much smaller today. Whistling a song reminiscent of her childhood, she got changed into her daily outfit: A plain white shirt with the two top buttons undone, a black blazer, black trousers and black heels. Finally, Hanako was ready to head to the West Tek main building and distract herself with her work. However, when Hanako was getting ready to exit her mansion, her phone began to vibrate; the glassy screen read the words _Mom._ Hanako's heart skipped a beat, knowing the tsunami of sorrow that was about to hit her; Hanako accepted the call. A teary voice began to speak,

"Honey?" Ochako Midoriya called,

"Hi Mom." Choked Hanako,

"You've seen the news, right?"

"Of course Mom." Hanako was beginning to tear up.

"Y-Your brother, he's being buried in a week. We already miss him, and you, please come and see us soon. Your father has barely talked ever since he heard what happened." Hanako's mother sobbed,

"Don't worry Mom; I'm coming to see you both in a few days. I just need to … recover." Replied Hanako, pure sadness emanating from her voice alone.

"Your brother was always so much like me." Ochako began,

"Always happy go lucky, always smiling and always making sure everyone else was smiling as well, oh Toshinori, why did you have to leave us like this?" Ochako cried stridently,

"Mum, please don't cry. One of us has to stay strong." Replied Hanako, crying herself.

"Don't worry. We'll all try to stay strong. It's what he would've wanted." Ochako said, her sobbing ceasing.

"I'll be with you guys in a few days ok."

"Ok honey."

"Bye Mom, I love you."

"I love you too, and oh one last thing."

"What is it?" Hanako was still trying to hold back tears,

"Your father said that he could still feel One For All's presence, and the feeling isn't coming from your brother's body."


	3. Chapter 3

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

Ichiro Kanzagi had never liked heroes. They were pompous and greedy and so many other things that annoyed him so, when Ichiro heard of Captain Power's death, he was mostly indifferent. Of course, the death a man trying to do a good deed is sad but Ichiro simply couldn't bring himself to cry. The pale, dark haired, 14-year-old boy acknowledged that Captain Power was one of the better ones, however. The 'Symbol of Peace' generally stayed out of things like the media unless he had to and, although Ichiro imagined he was incredibly rich, not much information was spread about his home life or income. But Ichiro didn't only dislike heroes because of their desire for fame and glory over saving people, no; Ichiro also hated the fact that heroes simply promote the out casting of those that are _too_ different, despite them all living in a discombobulated world where 80% of the population had superpowers. Unluckily, Ichiro was part of the 20% of the population that didn't have a superpower. All of those who were quirkless were pushed away from society

"Quirkless people are just extras that need to be saved!"

He remembered them saying. Heroes only promote the bullying by inspiring quirked people to be like them and simultaneously causing those without quirks to be bullied by people trying to raise their own self-esteem. Quirkless people were always the butt of the joke, they're more abnormal than normal in this world and yet they seem the most normal, just people in the background, _villain fodder._ So many quirkless people admired heroes as well; so many quirkless people wanted to _be_ heroes, but Ichiro knew they were blind to see that the heroes they admired never really cared about them at all.

Ichiro was woken by his alarm; he always hated that thing. Slowly, he pushed himself out of the slender bed and landed on the floor. Eyes shut tightly; he took a deep breath and stood up, finally opening his dusty eyelids to see his room 'dorm' in the children's home. Most children dropped off at the home were found a place to live within a few months, family somewhere else but there were a few permanents - three to be exact. Those three were himself, Ren and Yuuto who were all taken care of the woman in charge – Chika. Chika was a middle-aged woman who was, believe it or not, very kind. Ever since Ichiro was dropped off at the children's home in a cardboard box with a nametag saying _Ichiro Kanzagi_ , Chika had taken care of him like a real mother. It was one of the only things Ichiro could boast about: quirkless, orphaned, but had some sort of a family. The two other mischievous boys, Ren and Yuuto were younger tan him – Ren being 7 and Yuuto being 8. Mysteriously, they were both dropped off at the children's home, just like Ichiro, but Ren only had his first name stuck to his blanket and Yuuto had nothing; Chika kindly named him herself.

At last, Ichiro stopped daydreaming and checked over to the bunk bed opposite his bed, empty: Ren and Yuuto were up. Ichiro sauntered over to his dresser and changed into his school uniform – which was a pair of black trousers, a white shirt and a black blazer over the shirt, the middle school's dress code intended for one to have all the buttons done up, but Ichiro always kept the top one undone. Unfortunately, Ichiro disliked school almost as much as he did heroes, just another place for him to be bullied,

"Quirkless and an orphan, man you're the nobody of the nobody's"

"Just a quirkless loser, most people don't even know your name!"

Ichiro furrowed his brow, he stopped paying attention to their insults a long time ago, and stopped crying about it even before that. Once he was getting dressed, the lean boy trekked downstairs.

"Morning." Ichiro yawned to both Ren and Yuuto,

"Morning!" They both responded through mouthfuls of cereal, spraying milk from their mouths. Once they saw the marks on Ichiro's uniform they began giggling like madmen,

"Oh come on guys!" Shouted Ichiro, infuriated,

"Ren. Yuuto. You both know better than to speak with food in your mouth, now apologise to Ichiro," said a familiar voice; Chika had entered the room, with a basket of washing in her arms.

"Sorry Ichiro." The boys murmured earnestly,

"Yeah, Yeah, it's all right." Replied Ichiro, obviously still annoyed,

"Ok bye!" The two boys shouted perkily and charged off to their room to get dressed for school.

"How are you today Ichiro?" Asked Chika, kindly,

"Yeah I'm fine."

"I talked to your head teacher."

"What!" Ichiro gasped,

"About the bullying. I know it hurts Ichiro."

"It doesn't. It will only make things worse."

"Well I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be. It's not your fault I'm the least interesting, least useful person in the universe." Ichiro said Ichiro, blankly. Chika's jaw slightly dropped,

"You don't really think that do you?" She ambled towards him and pulled him into an embrace,

"Are you sure you're all right?" She asked, very concerned,

"Yes, I'm fine Chika." Ichiro managed a weak smile and, once again put on his 'I'm alright' façade. After saying goodbye to Ren and Yuuto, Ichiro paraded out of the front door and was met with a bustling car filled road. His trek to school was going to be a long one.

Every weekday Ichiro would leave the home at 7:15, proceed to the train station a few blocks away and get the 7:30 train; he would then arrive at his destination at 8:15 and, at last, barely get to school for 8:30. Ichiro was currently on the train, resting his head on the seat he was lucky to find. On the tracks, they went past the main part of the Musutafu: Colossal buildings home to rich companies and hero agencies. Thousands of average people walking through the overcrowding streets trying to get wherever they needed to go. The man sitting across from Ichiro was blowing bubbles from his mouth for his baby in a stroller.

 _Pretty funny quirk_ Ichiro thought. The train cart itself was completely packed. Suited men and women holding brief cases and holding to the bars for dear life as the train shook aggressively. The train began progressing down a steep hill and came into the South-West of Musutafu, which was definitely not as flashy as the big city. Whilst the train raced along, Ichiro looked out the window to see a Pro Hero.

Pro Hero: Assaultra

Quirk: Mouth Beam

(With his quirk he can shoot a powerful laser beam from his mouth, however the stronger the beam, the more gum pains he gets)

Children and adults alike on the train flocked to the window to see the powerful Pro in action. He was in combat with a villain with four, muscular arms. As fast as a cheetah, Assaultra rushed forward, clad in his metallic, robotic armour with his helmet retracted to his suit. The people surrounding the battle just stood there watching the one sided fight, ignorantly. _What are they doing? Run or try and help_ Ichiro thought. Suddenly, the train came to a startling stop and a serpentine businessman was launched speedily to the ground and his brief case opened – spilling some important looking documents on the cold, steel floor of the train.

"Damn it." The man moaned anxiously.

"Here let me help." Ichiro said, paying no attention to the train's stop. No matter how much Ichiro was annoyed by civilian's reliance on heroes, he knew that – if it was anything serious – then either Assaultra or another Pro Hero would be along,

"Thank you young man." Smiled the businessman. Once the documents were all back in the case, the man shook Ichiro's hand and attempted to take back his seat, however, to his dismay, it had already been taken. Ichiro, who was already slouched back in his own seat, stared blankly through the opposite window. Then, out of nowhere, came an alarming scream. The doors of the train opened and people gleefully exited the train to see what had happened. The four-armed man was on the tracks, face down: he had thrown himself in front of the train.

It was 9:00 in the morning when Ichiro finally arrived in school. The train had gone out of service when it hit the villain so he had to rush to school at high speeds. He had been excused because of the _abnormal_ circumstances and rushed to 1st period, which was science, a subject he actually enjoyed. However, the dark-haired boy was too preoccupied. _Why did that villain throw himself in front of the train? He could have gone any other way or get caught and be sent to jail, so why? No… he wanted to kill himself Ichiro_ thought. _A man like him would've been similar to me: An outcast because of his differences. I wonder if he only became a villain because everyone was too afraid of him. Maybe he didn't have a choice but to turn to crime._ The boy tried to stop thinking about it, however, when he finally did get the disturbing idea out of his head, science had ended and he had done no work. Mr Yukimoto furiously paced towards him,

"Kanzagi! You'll see me after class to do _all_ the work you didn't do, understood." Growled Yukimoto,

"Yes Sir." Replied Ichiro unenthusiastically.

"Good." With that, Yukimoto turned and waddled back to his desk.

"Great." Ichiro muttered.

The rest of the day was uninteresting like most days were at Corelle middle school until Ichiro got to last period, which was drama.

"Ok class. Today we are going to be making our own hero vs. villain scenes, of course do not use your quirks to cause any actual damage but they can be used for aesthetic purposes. Now pair into groups of two or three and choose who's who ok.

"Ichiro can be with us." Sakurai Takahashi, one of Ichiro's main bullies, said slyly.

"Yeah he can be with us." Added on one of Sakurai's goons.

"Good. Go on Ichiro; it appears you have found a group."

"Yeah, great." Ichiro replied sarcastically,

"Ok Daichi you can be the hero; I'll be the villain and Ichiro … can be the helpless citizen that needs to be saved." The bully sneered cruelly. Furthermore, he then pushed Ichiro to the ground and then said,

"Die citizen, die!" Most of the surrounding students giggled,

"Now Sakurai, I appreciate your eagerness, but no actual physical contact ok." Interjected the drama teacher,

"Yes sir." The group continued to refine their performance and Ichiro went with basically anything the others said – not because he was a pushover but because he couldn't be bothered to fight back and probably get beat up after school. Once the bell for the end of school _finally_ rang Ichiro grabbed his bag and passed by all the other students. The boy didn't stop running; he could feel his eyes watering, had he finally been broken again? _NO_! _I've come this far._ Faster, faster Ichiro was near the train station, if he could just make it to the train he could calm down. Unfortunately, Ichiro tripped and landed face first; not one passer-by gave any attention to the boy who had just scratched his face. He looked laughable on the floor, although too invisible to be laughed at.

"You," said an unfamiliar voice. Ichiro turned, the tears in his eyes beginning to dry, to see a woman. She seemed in her late thirties and had long, flowing brown hair; Ichiro recognized her face.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked, clearly concerned,

"Yeah I'm alright." Ichiro replied, politely,

"Do you know who I am?" The woman asked,

"Uh… I'm not sure, sorry"

"I'm Hanako Midoriya." Ichiro immediately recognized the name,

"You're one of the lead designers at West Tek right."

"Correct kid, I thought you were going to say that I was the son of the hero Deku and the brother of Captain Power" Ichiro just shrugged, wondering where this conversation was going.

"So, you like heroes?"

"No, but I like the tech that they have." Ichiro explained,

"So, you don't like heroes, how unfortunate. Could I talk to you someplace less public please?" Ichiro was rather bewildered by the fact that such a famous woman wanted to talk to him. He knew that she probably didn't want anything _weird_ and he had time to kill, so, the boy accepted the invitation.

The pair went to a nearby Internet café where Hanako bought their food.

"So, why was it that you needed to talk to me?" Inquired Ichiro,

"Well there's something that I think you have, something that's very important to me." Hanako enunciated,

"Well … what is it?" The boy asked,

"My brother, Captain Power, had a quirk known as One For All." Hanako continued, a serious look on her face,

"What is that?"

"It's a combination of two quirks: one that stockpiles power over time and one that allows the quirk to be passed on, meaning it gets stronger and stronger with each generation."

"Uh bu-" Ichiro was cut off before he could finish his sentence,

"My father, the Pro Hero Deku also had this quirk and he passed it onto my brother through an _unusual method_. All might did the same for my father and All Might's mentor for him and so on." Hanako stopped, took a deep breath and continued,

"When my brother died, he hadn't passed the quirk onto a successor yet. This had never actually happened before and both my Father and I thought the quirk was lost forever, we were doomed to be defeated by that _villain._ "

"So, what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, my father, being a One For All user, can detect the quirks presence, despite him not being able to tap into its power anymore due to his old age. And this feeling wasn't coming from my brother's body, no. My father told me it was coming from somewhere in Musutafu." Ichiro was beginning to feel uneasy, how could this be true? However, what gain did this woman have to lie?

"Using a sample from his genes, I found One For All's genetic makeup and attached to a citywide scanner device I made a while back." Remarked Hanako. At this point, Ichiro was amazed, his jaw wide open. _Too much information_ he thought,

"I found one matchup, and that matchup was you." Hanako said; Ichiro was beginning to get disturbed,

"What are you getting at?" the dark-haired boy bellowed,

"If I'm correct, which I'm pretty sure I am, then when my brother died, the quirk itself escaped from his body. It must have gained some sort of sentience, and, for whatever reason, it found you."

"You're lying. There's no way anything like that could ever happen." Ichiro scolded,

"But it did, my father can feel it, and I have scientific proof. No matter who you are, no matter for what reason, you have been given the quirk both my father and my brother had, you have inherited One For All."


	4. Chapter 4

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

"You're lying!" Ichiro spurted,

"Say what you want, but I'm not" Replied Hanako, a calm and collected look now appearing on her face,

"But, but, there's no way something like that could happen, a quirk gaining sentience doesn't make any sense!"

"Look kid, I'm going to need you to cooperate with me, just until I can show you that what I'm saying is true, okay."

Ichiro scowled fiercely then realised a few people were staring at the pair due to their heated argument. Rather unexpectedly, a swarm of men and women with cameras flooded into the café.

"Damn it. I knew this would happen." Sighed Hanako, slender hands on her face,

"Miss Midoriya! Can we have an interview please?" A deep voice shouted through the bustling crowd,

"How do you feel about the recent events with your brother Miss Midoriya!" Cried another,

"Marry me Miss Midoriya," screamed a dainty man. However, Hanako simply shut all the noise out, despite them obnoxiously crowding around the pair.

"Please kid, just give me a chance and let me show you." Hanako smiled weakly. Considering, Ichiro focused to drown out the noise and made eye contact with the millionaire in front of him,

"Fine." And with that Hanako grabbed Ichiro's lean hand and began pushing through the crowd effulgently.

"Ichiro was impressed with her power as she dragged the boy along and once they finally got out of the ocean of reporters, cameramen and unusual fans, a deluxe limousine gracefully pulled up next to them. As fast as Hanako could pull the two of them, they climbed into the polished car. There were luscious, comfortable, white leather seats that extended all around the back part of the car. A rather portly man with blond receding hair was at the wheel. Before the next flash of a camera, the care was moving rapidly away from the paparazzi.

After about 10 minutes of impressing driving from the man that Hanako had called Haruto, the limousine stopped at an expanse of forest. The deep green trees swayed peacefully as Hanako and Ichiro stepped out of the car. Still not sure of what they were doing here, Ichiro was glad that he hadn't been kidnapped, or wasn't dead.

"Follow me." Hanako said, obtusely,

"Why?" Ichiro asked, knowing that he was pretty far away from the children's home,

"Telling you didn't work, so I'm going to show you."

"Your crazy." Ichiro murmured under his breath. The boy took a sigh of relief when Hanako simply carried on walking; she hadn't heard him. Ichiro marched, obediently, until they came to a small opening among the towering oak trees.

"Now can you tell me why we're here?" Ichiro pleaded, adamantly,

"I'm going to show you your quirk." Hanako told him,

"I'm Quirkless, and I don't want a quirk either. I don't want to end up like those entitled idiots!" Ichiro shouted. Hanako's calm expression shifted to one of sadness, as if she felt bad,

"I'm sorry you feel that way kid, but I need you to just listen to me." Hanako said,

"In half an hour, I'm leaving." Ichiro declared,

"Ok, I want you to close your eyes," Ichiro obliged, he shut his pale eyelids tight and was met with an array noises and colours. Everything seemed so much clearer all of a sudden: Ichiro could hear the birds chirping and the rustle of the leaves; the feeling was nice.

"Good, now put your right hand forward." Hanako instructed. Ichiro, once again, followed the instructions. Right hand forward, eyes closed, he took a deep breath.

"Now feel the power bubbling inside of you and try to focus all of that into your middle finger." At this point Ichiro was confused, but he was now curious to see whether this woman was truly crazy or not. The dark-haired boy focused and to his great surprise he felt something: An indescribable heat was coursing through his right arm. _No way_ He thought.

An expression of joy was present on Hanako's face as Ichiro's arms then only his middle finger were surrounded by red and gold light.

"Now, use your thumb to prepare a flick" Ichiro did just that.

"And release all that power Ichiro, do it!" Ichiro flicked, and carnage reigned: A colossal, powerful, destructive gust of wind went flying from his finger and into the nearby trees. Although Hanako had already gotten a decent amount away, she had to hang on tightly to a nearby tree, a smile on her face. When the wind subsided, a long deep trench of mud and fallen trees was left in its wake. Once Ichiro realised what had happened, multiple beads of sweat ran down his face. Not only had he just broken his finger – which was now severely bruised – but also he'd just knocked down trees with just a flick of his finger. _I'm quirkless! There's no way!_ Ichiro pondered,

"I told you." Hanako said from behind him, "I noticed that you're reasonably fit so I decided to let you do a finger flick, a whole arm attack would have probably blown your arm off."

"What?" Ichiro shouted,

"Don't worry. If I saw you about to attack with your arm then I would've stopped you." Hanako reassured,

"I'm not evil you know,"

"I wouldn't be sure." Ichiro teased, playfully.

"Come on, I'll get you a bandage for that, we'll drop you home and we can talk on the way." The brown-haired woman pronounced.

Hanako stayed true to her word, after they got back to the car Ichiro's broken finger got bandaged and Haruto plot course to the Children's home.

"So, what do you think?" Hanako asked, calmly

"I can't believe it; you were right. I actually have a quirk." Ichiro replied,

"Yes, and a very powerful quirk as you can see." Hanako explained,

"This is crazy." Ichiro told himself,

"Ichiro, the villain that killed my brother is very powerful. My brother was the strongest hero in the world and he was defeated. This hero is a threat to the whole world, and, for whatever reason, you inherited One For All. It may be due to your quirklessness before, considering that multiple quirks usually turn someone into a hideous monster, but you're the only one with the potential to defeat that villain whenever he returns, okay." Hanako explained. Ichiro was utterly stunned.

"You're telling me, that you want me to become a hero, master this quirk and risk my life to defeat this villain all for a cause that I don't believe in." Hanako was now the one, who was stunned,

"Ichir-" But Ichiro cut her off this time,

"Heroes are just greedy idiots looking for fame and money. They don't care about actually saving people and, by inspiring quirked people to be like them, they only make things worse for quirkless people like –" Ichiro stopped himself, once again realising that he now had a quirk,

"So your telling me that you don't plan to do anything with this immense power that you wield." Hanako scolded,

"You don't want to protect your loved ones?" she continued,

Ichiro stopped; he imagined Ren, Yuuto and Chika dying in front of him, whilst he was powerless to stop it. He brushed the disturbing thought to the side.

"You want to protect the people that you love, right?"

Ichiro nodded weakly, clearly upset. The car had pulled onto his road now,

"You want hero society to change so that heroes are there to protect people and not for the money and glory, right?"

Ichiro gave a more determined nod this time,

"Then become a hero, protect the people that you love and change hero society for the better. I'll be supporting you all the way!" Hanako exclaimed, hopefully.

"I'll think about it." Ichiro said, blankly,

"Well then, here's my number." Hanako gave him a card with a long combination of numbers engraved on it. Nodding, Ichiro got out the car and it then proceeded to dive away into the beautiful setting sun. The boy grimaced as he unlocked the front door, entering the Children's Home. "Don't worry, Toshinori, Dad I'll get this boy on the right path, I'll continue your legacy."

Placing his right hand in his pocket to hide the bandaged finger, he proceeded to the kitchen area of the home to tell Chika that the trains were delayed, an excuse he gave a lot. And with that, Ichiro made his way to his room and did his homework for the night.

 _Today's been … eventful_ Ichiro thought. After dinner, which was fast food Ramen, Ren and Yuuto went to play with their Lego, making a bunch of (unrecognizable) structures.

 _Protect the people that you love._ Hanako's words echoed through his head. Would the world really fall if he didn't become a hero and fight back? _That's absurd_ he told himself, but Ren and Yuuto's childish laughter shifted something inside of him.

"Can I be excused please?" Ichiro asked, politely. Chika nodded. Swiftly, Ichiro made his way to his shared room and he slumped down on his bed, thinking.

"I do want to protect the people that I love. I do want hero society to change. So I can't sit around and expect people to do those things for me." Ichiro told himself in a determined voice. The boy sat up, grabbed his phone off the ancient wood dresser and dialled the number on the card,

"Hello?"

"Hanako?"

"Is that Ichiro?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

Ichiro took a deep breath and replied,

"I'm ready."

 **And that was chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed. As of now there are 10/14 male slots taken and 2/6 female slots taken for 1A so please be mindful of that if you're sending in OC's, although I may change some things depending on the characters sent in. Don't be afraid to send in Hero or Villain OC's.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	5. Chapter 5

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

Only the shallow the breathing of a man could be heard in the pitch-black room. There was a window, although nothing to look at outside, simply a cold stonewall. Outside, a tall, rather lanky man snaked through the candle-lit hallway, humming to himself. Down the corridor, a colossal, rectangular room presented itself; there were multiple chairs in a circle. The tall man came to a single wooden door and clenches his fist, tightly, then preceded to knock on the hard wooden surface. A weak voice wheezed in response,

"Who is it?"

"It's me, sir." Replied the tall man, swiftly,

"Come in, but close the door quickly." Mumbled the wheezing voice. The tall man did just that; he immediately opened the door, which shone an eerie golden light in the room, then shut the door as quickly as he opened it,

"Thank you."

"My pleasure sir." Said the man in a terrified voice,

"Why do you seem so … afraid, Tadashi?" asked Venger, clearly seeing through his comrade's façade,

"Afraid, what do you mean sir?" Tadashi asked, sweat plummeting from his forehead,

"I am your leader, am I not?" Venger asked, a malicious undertone in his voice, cleverly hidden by a compassionate one,

"Yes you are sir?"

"I am your comrade, am I not?"

"Of course, sir." Tadashi answered, utterly terrified. Venger stuck his bruised, bony hand out and Tadashi's body went flying towards it, eventually being caught in the hands powerful grasp; even after being caught Tadashi could still feel himself being pulled by his leader's powerful quirk.

"Then there is no reason to be afraid of me, is there?" Venger said, cruelly. Being so close, Tadashi finally got a good look of his leader: the man was lying on a bed, covered in bandages from head to toe, areas of visible skin were purple with bruises and cuts. One of Venger's storm grey eyes was visible from an opening, completely bloodshot. Tadashi's master may have defeated the number one hero, but there was no doubt he came out scathed, and probably wouldn't be able to fight for a while, let alone fight at anything close to his full power. Their group had to be careful, despite their leader being able to instruct them from his bed. At last, Venger released his powerful grip on Tadashi's neck – which was beginning to go a ghostly white despite Tadashi's tanned complexion,

"What is it you need?" Venger grumbled, the pure anger in his voice morphing to simple annoyance,

"I was wondering what our next move was sir?" blurted Tadashi. Venger laid his head back on the single pillow and chuckled,

"Isn't is obvious?"

Press up after press up, sit up after sit up, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. Ichiro's vigorous training had been much harder than he expected. He was always relatively athletic, doing any of the free sports clubs to bide his time and, as a result, got pretty healthy, but what he had to endure for the past month was excruciating. When he told Hanako that he had decided to become a hero so he could change hero society and protect his loved ones, she immediately made him a strict schedule and diet, there was apparently only about two months until the entrance exam to U.A – the most prestigious hero school in the country and, probably the whole world. Hanako had told him that if he wanted to become a hero he had the best chance at U.A, considering that the past three wielders of One For All (Captain Power, Deku and All Might) had attended it. Reluctantly, Ichiro agreed and began training for its exam. Hanako had preposterously rented out a whole gym, which consisted of an assortment of weights, treadmills, climbing walls, and much more, for Ichiro's training. It was eleven in the morning on a Sunday in July when Ichiro was starting to get noticeably more buff. The boy still had his almond-shaped eyes and lean figure, but everything about him seemed so much more sharp and mature, so much, in fact, that most people in his class, excluding Takahashi and his goons.

"Wow, does Ichiro look … different." He remembered them saying,

"Hey kid, looking ready to use that power of yours?" Hanako asked, gleefully. A small smile appeared on Ichiro's face; he was trying to hide his happiness. Hanako flashed him a quick smile, then went to check on her emails on a bench whilst Ichiro worked out zealously. The, now fifteen year old boy, began doing weights with ease that he struggled heavily with about a month ago, progress had been made. After weights, Ichiro did press-ups; sit ups and climbed up the climbing wall, and finally ran on the treadmill. Although hot and sweaty, Ichiro didn't seem too phased by the training, however he had to train more at home and go on a long run later,

"Impressive, you were struggling with those weights not too long ago." Hanako clapped her small hands together,

"Good work, the entrance exam is this Friday." Hanako remarked. Suddenly, Ichiro's face went from slightly red to deep blue and ice cold sweat ran down his face,

"What!" Ichiro exclaimed,

"But I'm confident you're ready, you'll definitely figure it out." Hanako reassured, ruffling his hair. The boy sighed; there was no use complaining about it now, but he had to be ready,

"Oh yeah, one more thing Ichiro." Hanako said,

"Here you go." Hanako handed him a USB stick with an old label on it that simply read: Awesome Heroes. It was written in scruffy handwriting that couldn't have been Hanako's, as her writing was neat and fluent,

"What is this?" Ichiro questioned,

"You'll see." Hanako replied, supressing a grin.

By seven-thirty in the evening, Ichiro had finished his run. Exhausted, he trudged towards his bed, slumped down on it, and pulled the duvet over him. Despite Ren and Yuuto's remarkably loud snoring, Ichiro fell asleep relatively easily, and the boy lost himself in an abyss of darkness.

After some time, a small flash of vibrant, rainbow lights were visible in the darkness. Ten people stood, facing away from him; it seemed as though they were having a conversation, although Ichiro could only hear muffled sounds. Suddenly, a man turned. Ichiro stood back hastily, or at least he thought he stood back. The man that had turned had scruffy hair and rounded eyes with a muscular body, on the other hand it wasn't nearly as large as some of the others. All the others promptly turned. The figures were all simple outlines except for their eyes, which were an effulgent array of colours in the deep darkness. The people held out their hands, abruptly, and Ichiro began edging forward, reaching his hand out. However, the image shifted and Ichiro was in a plain white field; the boy fell backwards onto his rear, breath taken. Ichiro shivered, and, he heard footsteps coming towards him. Turning to face whatever it was head on, he was met with a disturbing pile of bodies and a man wearing a suit hovered above them, then, another incredibly muscular man with bright, radiant blonde hair appeared and the image shifted again. A pool of crimson blood surrounded the previously hovering man, and the blonde man above him had his face to the ground. The image shifted tenaciously and a, much smaller blonde man, was, once again, standing over a man in a suit. Annoyingly, the image shifted again: now there was a man with green hair, arms raised, over a much skinnier man, a single, disembodied hand lying next to the body; the image shifted for the last time. A man dressed in a cloak was standing over a familiar figure… Captain Power's figure. Ichiro was utterly stunned, horrified, as the villain looked up to Ichiro, only his devious eyes visible except for his outline. The dark-haired boy attempted to scream,

"Pointless." A voice commented. The mysterious voice was correct, and as Ichiro struggled, he began to realise that more and more until the villain towered over him, intimidatingly. The villain put his hand forward, and right before the hand touched Ichiro's face, the boy awoke, screaming, sweating fulsomely. Both Ren and Yuuto stared at him, festering pools of concern and fear hidden behind their eyes,

"It's ok guys." Ichiro whispered across the room. Both boys resumed their place on the pillows and Ichiro did the same, although he didn't sleep for the rest of the night, fearing that he would have the same terrifying dream.

Days of training passed and Ichiro arrived at Wednesday, Hanako had went to get them some food whilst Ichiro was _meant_ to be training, however he took this time to play on his phone. Ichiro had been slacking off recently, but only because he was confident that he would be all right. Unfortunately, Hanako caught him this certain day,

"Ichiro, not training I see?" Hanako said, brow furrowed,

"Oh uh…" Ichiro murmured in response,

"In fact, you've been slacking a lot recently!" Hanako scolded,

"Do you really expect to become a hero without giving it your all!" she continued. Ichiro turned his face to the ground and clenched his fist fiercely,

"I'm sorry okay! I'm sorry that I don't want to basically commit suicide fighting a villain that the number one hero couldn't beat." Ichiro shouted. The brown-haired woman stopped, a confused look appearing on her face,

"I had a dream." Ichiro began, furiously, "Most of the One For All users died against a villain, didn't they!"

"Ichiro…"

"I don't want to die; I didn't ask for this, not for any of this!" The boy wailed, "When you offered me this chance, it revived an old childhood memory, when I actually _did_ want to be a hero. I thought all the pain might stop, but now I realise how dangerous it is!" Hanako was speechless,

"I don't want any part of this, heroes are all selfish anyway, and stupid, why would anyone risk their lives just for fame and money?" the afraid boy bellowed,

"How dare you! So many heroes risk their lives because it was the right thing to do. You're just selfish Ichiro. The fate of the world is on your shoulders and you're crying in a corner; you didn't deserve to inherit One For All!" Hanako scowled. Ichiro stopped, a tear in his eye, and then charged past Hanako. "Wait Ichiro!" Hanako called, although he was already too far away to hear, or care.

The day had come; it was Friday, the day of the entrance exam and Ichiro awoke, confused. He stumbled over toward the old computer in his room, plugged his earphones in and decided to watch some hilarious videos, but even they couldn't bring a smile to his face, after that, he played video games, but no luck there either. However, it was at this moment that Ichiro noticed the USB labelled _Awesome Heroes._ Melancholically, Ichiro inserted the sick into the computer and a video rapidly popped up on the dusty screen. Ichiro clicked play. A muscular man with radiant blonde hair emerged from a raging inferno, carrying many people with him; it was the hero All Might, and he shouted 'I am here!' confidently. The scene changed and now it was the pro hero Deku, standing triumphantly over the powerful adversary that the press had called _Tomura Shigaraki_ ; Deku also shouted 'I am here!' A smile crept up Ichiro's face: these heroes were … _cool._ The video shifted once again, Captain Power at a ceremony of some sorts holding his hand high in the air, just like his predecessors he shouted 'I am here.' Unexpectedly, the video changed one last time; it was a boy that looked like a young Captain Power,

"Now Toshinori." Said a voice in the video. _Toshinori was captain power's name._ "Do you want to be a hero?" The young, future hero with rounded eyes gave a huge nod, "And what about you Hanako?" The female voice asked,

"No thanks." Replied a young Hanako. Ichiro's smile faded, even after all this time he had failed to acknowledge that Hanako had lost her brother. He truly was selfish.

"Why do you want to be a hero Toshinori?" Asked the female voice, probably the sibling's mother,

"I want to be a hero so I can bring smiles to everybody's faces, so I can make them feel happy and safe, because it's the right thing to do." A young Toshinori stated. And with that, the video ended. Ichiro was met with a plain black screen. Captain Power, a man he was connected to in some sort of way, wanted to be a hero because it was the right thing to do, something Ichiro wanted all heroes to be like. Devastated, Ichiro put his head on the table, tears streaming from his eyes. He knew what he had to do.

Hanako looked to the phenomenal rising sun; today was the day of the entrance exam, although Ichiro wouldn't be there to take it.

"I messed up." Hanako began, tearfully, "I pushed him too hard, pushed him away. I told him that he didn't deserve to get One For All, I was an idiot." Hanako stopped and looked down to the shadowed beach below her and the glistening cerulean ocean that seemed to go on for forever. "I'm sorry Toshinori, Dad, that I won't be able to save us, that I won't be able to honour you, or continue your legacy." A single tear fell from her eye and down to her cheek,

"So, we gonna do this or what?" A young, familiar voice asked playfully. Hanako turned, and in front of her was Ichiro, radiating pure light as the sun shone down on him, a huge grin appeared on his face, and Hanako followed suite,

"Yeah, lets get you to that entrance exam."

 **Thanks for reading this chapter. I'm finally going to start introducing some of your OCs in the next chapter, so stay tuned for that. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review, thanks.**


	6. Chapter 6

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

UA. There it was, in all of its glory, towering above the wave of possible-students walking through the gates, some looking confident, whilst others looked terrified. Ichiro wasn't sure what category he fit into. Of course he was nervous, considering his body was barely in the right condition to use One For All without permanently maiming him, and the fact that he'd also only used the actual quirk once.

"You'll be fine. My father hadn't used the actual quirk at all before his entrance exam." The teenager remembered Hanako reassuring. Ichiro wore a simple white T-Shirt with a zipped up grey hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms, as well as old blue sneakers that had a few stains on them; he clutched his bag tightly, gritting his teeth and wondering how the entrance exam would go. If Hanako were correct, he would be fighting false, robotic villains for the practical exam and be doing a written exam, which changed every year. Ichiro paced up the steps and into the colossal glass building.

After signing in at the reception desk, at which a bored, ginger woman marked him as present, he followed his fellow examinees through a pair of wooden doors until he came into a huge, spherical atrium; the only lights came from the stage in which the pro hero and teacher at UA: Huntress, stood.

Pro Hero: Huntress

Quirk: Wings

She has two, angelic wings attached to her back in which she can do an all number of things with.

A collective 'Woah'' could be heard from the examinees as they laid eyes on her. Huntress had platinum blond hair done in a ponytail and emerald green eyes that, when Ichiro saw, appeared to be lit with cold fire. The pro sported her yellow body armour and metallic boots, although her great wings were currently not spread.

"Hello future heroes!" Huntress boomed through her microphone, cheers could be heard from most of the examinees, especially the heroes. Ichiro, at last, made it to his row, somewhere around the top at the far left hand side. As he continued to walk, he bumped into a boy with back hair that was about shoulder length and very light blue eyes. He didn't appear phased,

"Sorry, my bad." Ichiro babbled,

"It's honestly fine." Replied the blue eyed boy, calmly,

"I'm Kasyo. Kasyo Aizawa." Kasyo stuck out his hand, which sported five rather bony fingers. Ichiro shook it, apologetically and they both went their separate ways to their seats. Ichiro finally sat down; the chairs were relatively comfortable, and a girl sat down next to him. Ichiro craned his neck to see who it was and had to supress a gasp: the girl was breathtakingly beautiful. She had snow-white hair that fell just short of her shoulders and her body was well endowed and curvy. The girl sported a vest top underneath a dark blue cardigan. When she turned and faced Ichiro, he realised that her eyes didn't have any pupils, which gave her a cold glare,

"Uh, hi." Ichiro said, who was feeling more uncomfortable than stunned at this point. The girl nodded without a word and turned to face Huntress. _Unusual crowd_. Ichiro thought. He was right, there were a variety of different people in the atrium, all with a variety of fascinating quirks. Ichiro spotted a boy who had eight arms, returning an unpleasant memory of the four-armed man incident.

"Ok then, let's get started!" Huntress shouted, enthusiastically,

"After this brief, you'll be taken to a room to do the written exam, which I'm not allowed to tell you about, but after that you'll be taken to do the practical exam. A test of your hero skills in practice, you're going to fight robotic villains."

 _Hanako was right_. An image of silhouetted robots appeared, three to be exact, around a silhouetted city. One was labelled 1 point, another was labelled 2 points, and the last one was labelled 3 points,

"Every robot you immobilise is worth a certain amount of points. In combination with your written exam scores, your practical points will tally up and the highest scoring examinees will get a place in the UA hero course." Another cheer erupted from the examinees,

"Do your best and become heroes … after the written exam. A groan came from the crowd this time, however Ichiro was glad that there was a written exam to begin with. If he could just do well in the written and decently in the practical then he could pass, or at least that what he hoped. Sluggishly, the examinees rose from their seats and everyone was assigned a written room and a practical ground. Ichiro got gym seven for the written test and ground delta for the practical one; he began making his way out.

The written exam was exactly what Ichiro had expected. There were questions like:

 _If a villain were attacking a civilian, what would you do?_

 _Engage the villain in combat_

 _Rescue the civilian and engage the villain in combat_

 _Rescue the civilian and run_

Ichiro circled B. Unexpectedly, there were a few non-verbal reasoning questions in the test too, most likely to gauge the students basic intelligence. To his dismay, by the time Ichiro had gotten through half of the test, fifteen people had already finished.

"Got to do well on the test." Ichiro muttered to himself repeatedly,

"Hey, could you stop please?" Whispered a boy sitting behind him; Ichiro slightly turned his head to see who asked him. He was a relatively tall young man with medium cut, jet-black hair that appeared to have sand in it; his skin was tanned and he had a semi-athletic build. Slightly intimidated, Ichiro apologised earnestly and resumed his stressing in his mind exclusively. Luckily, Ichiro finished the test with ten minutes remaining and went to get ready for the practical – which was the thing he was most nervous about. A few long minutes passed, and the rest of the examinees came flooding into the room and were then escorted to their respective grounds. Ichiro was promptly taken to ground delta where he, and many others, began preparing for the test. Although Ichiro was definitely more athletic than most of the people milling around him, One For All's destructive nature weighed him down significantly. Huntress's voice was suddenly booming through speakers, startling many people, including Ichiro,

"Are you ready examinees? Well go then!" Huntress exclaimed. Everyone was slightly taken aback by the lack of a countdown, but once the metallic doors of the false city filled with false villains opened, the examinees went charging forward, fiercely. Ichiro took a left turn, trying to stray from the crowd, only to find a short boy with slicked blond hair and rather defined muscles, despite his petite frame. He wore a black beanie with a white crop top hoodie with two black horizontal lines on the sleeve, a black shirt underneath and black harem pants with black and white high top sneakers.

"Spicy Stinger!" the boy yelled, a determined hint in his voice. His arm extended, then de-extended, then repeated until the two-pointer in front of him collapsed. Turning to face Ichiro, the blonde boy laughed, victoriously. The blonde boy smiled and ran off.

"Need to find some points." Ichiro stressed, and ran off in the opposite direction. A few seconds later Ichiro encountered a two-pointer,

"I can do this." He reassured himself and aimed his middle finger towards the villain, preparing for a finger flick,

"Smash." He bellowed. Just like before, a huge gust of wind came flying from the finger, destroying any concrete it came into contact with, causing bits of it fly into the air. The impact almost immediately hit the robot, decimating it and a one-pointer behind it. _Three points_ Ichiro thought. His finger was now severely bruised and broken; Ichiro winced in pain.

"This isn't going to work." Ichiro uttered, sweating bullets. "The pain's gonna be too much. I need to find another way."

He heard a shout from behind him,

"What the?" Ichiro ran to find out what was going on, an adult man was standing opposite many examinees,

"What are you doing here?" Asked one boy,

"I'm here to kill all of you." The man replied, obtusely. He had simple, scruffy brown hair and brown eyes, similar to Ichiro's. The supposed enemy also wore a black leather biker jacket and jeans, although his clothing didn't hide his muscular build,

"This is probably a test to see how we react." Declared a boy. A resounding 'yeah' came from everyone except Ichiro, who could tell something was wrong,

"We've have to get out of …" Ichiro's sentence was cut off by a huge gasp from the others. The man's body began pulsating rapidly and his clothes ripped off as he began to grown in size. His skin changed from pale to a simple grey and he grew a single, sharp horn on his forehead. His face was mostly unchanged: his skin was the same and so were his features, but he now had a malicious smile,

"He has some sort of rhino transformation quirk; he looks too strong. We should get out of here!" Ichiro pleaded,

"No way. I'm to missing this chance to shine, real villain or not." Pronounced a boy, coating his arm in electricity,

"Die." Said the villain, charging towards them rapidly,

"Move!" Ichiro screamed, pushing the electric user out of the way and preparing a full arm smash for the first time ever. The villain's headfirst clash collided with Ichiro's smash and hell was let loose. The windows of the empty buildings cracked at once; the road in which they were fighting on crumbled, sending concrete flying in every direction. Ichiro howled in agony, this was pain unlike he'd ever felt before. Hoping that the villain was done for, Ichiro turned to the others,

"Run." He said. The others didn't need to be told twice,

"Thank-you." They all said. Unfortunately, the rhino villain rose from his coffin of debris; he coughed blood,

"Pretty good kid, but you can't control that power, so this will be over quickly." The villain claimed, truthfully,

"Why are you doing this? Whom do you work for?" Ichiro spurted, trying to stall for time,

"I don't know much about my employers, just that they want their dirty work done, and I'm the guy for that." The villain replied, "It's nothing personal kid, but I've need to get payed." The villain charged toward him again and, in response, Ichiro prepared a smash with his left arm in response. The villain was sent flying back, promptly,

"That's it. Both of your arms are broken, game over." The villain strode towards Ichiro,

"Not yet. I still haven't changed hero society; I still haven't gotten through this exam; I still haven't mastered this quirk. I've got so many people relying on me, not just Hanako, but also all of the One For All users too." Ichiro said,

"What are you babbling on about?" The villain screamed, viciously,

"I can feel their power inside of me, helping me. So…

I WON'T DIE!" Ichiro shouted, determinedly. One For All coursed throughout his whole body and he charged forward, using his broken right arm. The villain finally decided to use his fists as well.

"Die!" The villain bellowed, clearly stressed from Ichiro's un-shifting resolve,

"DETROIT SMASH!" Ichiro roared. A colossal field of dust rose as the attacks collided and the foundation of the building behind them was destroyed, causing the structure to collapse; the vicious fight was now noticeable to pretty much everyone in the area, and those that Ichiro saved worried greatly. Who had won?

After the smoke had cleared, the (once) road was now an amalgamation of dirt and rock. Ichiro's bruised body was on the floor, barely breathing. The rhino villain was victorious,

"My job was to kill as many of you examinees as I could, considering that you may be future heroes, but I think you're enough. My buddies on the other grounds will do that for me." The villain gasped, struggling to breath. He rose his bloodied foot over Ichiro's unconscious body. "So long."

Suddenly, the villain stopped. His foot was concealed in a rock like substance.

"That's enough." Declared the voice of a Pro hero and teacher at UA.

Pro Hero: Earth-Bender

Quirk: EarthBend

He can manipulate the earth in pretty much any way he wants, whether he wants to launch precipices or trap his opponent.

Rapidly, a rectangular earth attack rose from the ground and connected with the villain's gut, but, before he was sent flying away, he was encased in stone, "Oh and don't think that your buddies did much better. I dealt with them before they could kill any examinees." Earth-Bender revealed,

"Dammit." Muttered the villain, now returning to his human form. Ichiro's eyelids opened slightly to see the silhouette of a pro hero,

"Is that…?" Ichiro moaned before completely blacking out.

"So the boy's called Ichiro Kanzagi?" Shen Iwasaki (Earth-Bender) confirmed,

"That's right, we've phoned his caretaker and she's coming to pick him up now." Replied recovery girl, a descendant of the original recovery girl,

"Are we going to have a second entrance exam?" Shen asked the principal, quirkless, very intelligent middle-aged man. They were sitting in the infirmary, where an unconscious Ichiro was being treated.

"No. Most examinees were able to rack up a decent amount of points before the villains attack and, according to their reactions, we will be able to score them rescue points once we look at the footage." The principal remarked,

"Ok then, I would like for this young man to be given one hundred rescue points then." Shen said, bluntly,

"Are you sure, Mr. Iwasaki? That will pretty much be automatic entry."

"Exactly."

"Are you completely sure." The principal asked,

"This boy was willing to sacrifice himself for people he's never met, he didn't give up. If that's not UA material then I don't know what is." Shen enunciated,

"You're right. I'll make sure the points are added." The principal replied.

"Thanks." Shen nodded, "This kid has a bright future."

 **Thanks for reading. There are still two female slots left for 1A but feel free to send pros and villains. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review, thanks again.**


	7. Chapter 7

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

When Ichiro strolled into class, clad in bandages and supressing a smile, everyone stared at him in awe, except for Sakurai who scowled and looked to his comic book. As he went to sit down by himself in his seat at the back, multiple people intercepted him,

"Ichiro! We saw the news; you fought that villain at the UA entrance exam and saved those other guys." Daichi remarked, to Ichiro's pleasant surprise,

"Yeah, and on an interview, Earth-Bender acknowledged your bravery." Pointed out someone else,

"But the biggest question is …" Began Sakurai, "Since when did you have a quirk?" he sneered, "And how is it so strong?" Ichiro began scratching the back of his head, however that hurt his bruised fingers so he pulled away,

"Uh … apparently my quirk manifested later in life." Ichiro replied, worried that someone might notice something,

"Now, now class, we all want to congratulate Ichiro on his recent success, but we should all settle down." Said their tutor, sternly. Ichiro was glad; he'd dodged a bullet.

School continued normally that day, except for the fact that at morning break, everyone came bolting towards him, begging him to tell them more about the exam or to show them his quirk, although Ichiro declined both requests, despite enjoying the attention,

"I don't want to damage anything, ok." Ichiro declared. A collective sigh came from the swarm of students and they returned to their little groups; Ichiro had become a celebrity in their school, but he wasn't about to let that power get to his head. The eleventh holder of One For All had been on the news recently:

 **Heroic boy puts his own life in danger to save people he's never met from a villain.**

 **Villains attack UA entrance exam, one shining star among it all?**

Ichiro didn't enjoy the fact that he was getting so much attention across the media, especially since it was one of the reasons he disliked heroism in general. Today was the last day of middle school _ever_ for Ichiro, after today it would be the summer holidays and after that he would either attend UA or some other hero school that Hanako no doubt had connections in. He laid his head back on his chair, it was fourth period, right before lunch, and no one was focused. Their corpulent teacher was reciting some equations that seemed to fly over everyone's head, some students had even fallen asleep; they were only awoken when the school receptionist calmly knocked on the door and peeked her head through the gap,

"Sorry to bother your class sir but I've got a package here for Ichiro Kanzagi." Ichiro's eyes lit up as his teacher nodded and the receptionist made her way over to Ichiro and handed him a circular paper container,

"Th-thanks." Ichiro mumbled. On the package, in metallic gold writing, were the words UA. Gracefully, Ichiro opened the package, whilst his classmates and his teacher crowded around his table. The boy took a small holo-disc out of its paper confinements, pressed the play button and faithfully held his breath. An image of the principal of UA appeared, causing everyone to gasp,

"No way, it's the principal of UA, wasn't he one of the first quirkless heroes?" Someone said, inquisitively. The principal began speaking,

"Ichiro Kanzagi. You applied to the hero course this year and took part in the exams. You scored a decent sixty-nine on the written test." Ichiro put his head down, feeling shameful, "And in the practical exam you were only able to score three points." Everyone in Ichiro's class made sympathetic faces, some even patted him on the back,

"But luckily, thanks to input from the Pro Hero Earth-Bender, you were scored a whopping one-hundred rescue points, meaning you finished the exam with the highest point score this year, welcome … to UA high." The image flicked off and Ichiro's, as well as everyone else's jaw, were left wide open. Suddenly, a triumphant cheer came from everyone in his class, even Sakurai smiled. For minutes straight, the only thing that could be heard echoing through the hallways of Ichiro's middle school were the words,

"Ichiro, Ichiro!"

"I got in!" Ichiro bellowed, bursting through the front door of the children's home. Chika, Ren and Yuuto all looked up to see an ecstatic Ichiro,

"Really! Really!" The mischievous boys said, running towards him. Chika smiled, overjoyed; he'd actually done it. That night was spent celebrating, the four of them went to eat at Ichiro's favourite restaurant, which was Italian, despite them living in a Japanese city. When they got back, and Chika told the younger boys it was time to go to sleep, Ichiro called Hanako, and told her the good news. The woman screamed so loudly that Ichiro had to hold the phone away from his ear,

"I knew you could do it kid. I knew it, but you do know that things are going to get harder from here on out. You'll have to carry on training, but not nearly as much as before the exam; just to stay in the shape your are now." Hanako announced,

"Yeah I know, but I'm more focused on learning how to control this power." Ichiro replied, sleepily,

"Hmm, ok. I'm going to see my parents in a few days, and I want you to come with me."

The limousine snaked its way through the crowded streets of Musutafu, avoiding traffic at any possibility. Ichiro sat in the back seat, contently listening to his music whilst Hanako continued to make important business calls; Haruto was driving. The dynamic trio had been on the road for a few hours now: Musutafu was a big, crowded place, especially since they were currently in the central area, and making their way to the North, which was the richest part of the city and home to Hanako's parents. Once Hanako finished her call, she turned to Ichiro, brown hair flowing behind her,

"Are you worried?" Hanako asked considerately,

"About what?" Ichiro replied, looking up from his entrancing phone. Recently, the boy had become much more garrulous, although Hanako simply assumed it was down to him spending so much time with her,

"About meeting another One For All user?" Hanako enunciated,

"Not really. I hope he can show me how to control my power better, if I could then I might have been able to defeat that villain."

"Don't say that. You did amazingly for your first fight, and you showed the world who you really!" Hanako exclaimed joyously. "Besides, you'll get the hang of it."

"But what if I don't in time. What if that villain comes back?" Ichiro stressed. Hanako's expression shifted to something more serious,

"We're all assuming that the villain is in no state to fight right now. The country is in a state of unrest and most people think the villain will return. That's what all those marches have been about." Hanako began,

"So that's what those were about." Ichiro uttered,

"Yeah, but, as we are currently speaking, the government is putting together a team of heroes who can at least keep this villain away for a while, which will make the public feel a little safer. But we can't take the risk of just leaving it up to the other pros, that's why I'm training you, ok." Ichiro nodded in response, feeling slightly less on edge. Hanako had told him to relax since things would get harder once he started UA, but he couldn't sit idly by whilst he knew there was a possible national threat out there. The car continued to rumble along the road as they passed by the towering skyscrapers and then by lavish, modern mansions, similar to Hanako's. "We'll be there soon." Hanako said.

Sure enough, they were there soon. Roughly ten minutes later the limousine came to a stop in front of a colossal house. Its exterior was modern; the outside was pure, shiny and white, lined with gaping windows. Before the house was a long gravel driveway with two cars, despite the Midoriya's obvious wealth, the cars didn't look two expensive, one was a simple grey whilst the other was blue. Ichiro and Hanako said their goodbyes to Haruto, who smiled flatteringly and drove off, then made their way up the pathway next to the drive. Unfortunately, Ichiro had to lie to Chika in order to spend the weekend at the Midoriya's: Ichiro had claimed that he was going on a school trip and Hanako had done all the necessary paperwork to cover it up; Ichiro wasn't sure what Chika would think of him spending the weekend at a legendary hero's so he was willing to keep it under wraps. Hanako pressed the doorbell and an elderly woman with a broad smile opened the door. Her hair was mostly brown, with grey streaks here and there, and she had wide, rounded eyes,

"Darling!" The old woman cried,

"Mom." Replied Hanako, joyously. The two embraced whilst Ichiro stood there, awkwardly,

"Mom, this is my protégé, Ichiro Kanzagi." Hanako declared pointing at the boy. The elderly woman looked down at him and, unexpectedly, smiled,

"Hello Ichiro." Hanako's mother greeted,

"Ichiro, this is my mother, Ochako Midoriya." Hanako said. Ichiro now recognized who she was, the pro hero Uravity, although she retired before Ichiro was born he had seen many videos and merchandise of her, even Chika had an Uravity shirt. _I should probably get an autograph_ Ichiro thought before shaking the former pro's hand merrily. Ichiro wasn't sure if the hero in front of him fit into the category of those he didn't like, which was most of today, but she was Hanako's mother so she got a pass in Ichiro's book. Ochako beckoned them into the home and Ichiro got a good look around. Similar to the exterior, the walls were simple, but cream instead of white. A huge family photo hung overhead of the pro hero Deku, when he was obviously still young, Ochako of the same age and a young Hanako and Captain Power, who Ichiro recognized from the _awesome heroes_ video. Many other smaller photos lined the crisp walls: there we photos of Deku and Ochako on their wedding day and pictures of baby Hanako and Captain Power, neither Hanako or Ochako looked at any of the pictures with Captain Power in it. Deciding not to look at any photos of the former symbol of peace, Ichiro turned his attention to the other wall, which had a picture of Deku in his twenties and a blonde man of similar stature, height and age, both were wearing taxes,

"That's a picture of my father and his best friend, Katsuki." Hanako explained. Ichiro nodded. A long, multi-coloured carpet lay in front of him, mostly concealing a sleek wood floor and leading up to a staircase on the right, and a hall on the left. Ichiro followed the Midoriyas through the hall and into a large open plan living room, decked with comfortable sofas and a large TV on a stand; a games console sat idly on the TV stand, unplugged, and seemingly unused for years. _Must have been his._ Ichiro's expression shifted from awe to sadness,

"Did you grow up in this house?" Ichiro asked, turning his neck to face Hanako,

"Yep." Hanako replied; a weak smile brandished her face. The three finally went through a door to the far left and came into the kitchen. Three muscular, elderly men were talking in the centre of the room on the wooden table,

"We need to go after him. You may not have your powers anymore Deku but me and Icy-Hot here do!" Exclaimed a man with grey hair. Ichiro recognized the man from the photo as 'Katsuki', although he seemed much older here,

"No Kacchan!" Replied another man, who also had grey hair, but with some green streaks, "We're all old now and you and Shoto will be a burden anyway." _Hanako's father_ Ichiro thought _._ The final man had snow-white hair on the left side of his head, and red hair on the right side of his head, probably 'Shoto' and 'Icy-Hot'. Shoto nodded, stoically. Ochako made a deep coughing noise and the three stopped their debate and turned. Ichiro guessed they were talking about the threat of the villain,

"Hi, Ochako." Hanako's father choked. Ochako nodded, pursed her lips and nodded her head toward the young man standing before the legendary heroes,

"So, this is the kid." Snorted Katsuki,

"Yes, uncle Katsuki, uncle Shoto, Dad, this is Ichiro Kanzagi." Hanako responded; her limbs slightly stiffened,

"Can you control that power?" Shoto asked. His voice was sharp, but calm,

"No." Ichiro replied, bluntly,

"So you're like Deku was here." Katsuki claimed,

"That's enough you two." Deku scolded, "He just got this power. We can't expect him to have control of One For All just yet." Deku looked over to Ichiro and flashed a smile, "I'm Hanako's father, Izuku Midoriya." Ichiro already knew who he was but hearing the name simply solidified what was running through Ichiro's mind: the man in front of him was the former symbol of peace and the greatest hero of all time. Ichiro immediately bowed his head. Katsuki grunted and stood up,

"I'll see you later Deku." Katsuki held out his hand for a fist bump, and Izuku met Katsuki's fist with his own, "Later Icy-Hot." The fiery old man stood and made his way out of the room, flashing a smile at Ochako and Hanako then finally nodding at Ichiro. Shoto also stood up, whispered something in Izuku's ear, said his goodbyes and smirked at Ichiro as he passed through the doorway to leave. Now it was just the Midoriyas and Ichiro,

"Your uncles are scary." Ichiro whispered to Hanako. Hanako began chuckling; Izuku and Ochako began chuckling as well, the must have heard,

"Do you want to learn how to control hat power?" Izuku asked. Ichiro nodded, earnestly,

"All right then, we begin training tomorrow."

The rest of the evening was spent doing small talk. Ochako made ramen and the four had a nice dinner. Slowly, Ichiro began to feel less out of place. He realised that it must have been nice for Ochako and Izuku to have a boy in the house again. Once the evening was over, Ichiro was escorted to the guest room, which was simple but still lavish. Once the boy had brushed his teeth and changed into a more suitable outfit, he closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep.

At seven-thirty in the morning Ichiro was standing in the Midoriya's expansive training room,

"Ok Ichiro, I want you to control the power of One For All _without_ hurting yourself." Izuku said. Ichiro wiped the dust from his eyes and looked forward. He wore a simple dark blue T-shirt and knee length, baggy basketball shorts,

"How am I meant to do that?" Ichiro yawned, shivering in the training room's cold air,

"I'm not going to tell you that part." Izuku said, sitting back in his chair and pulling out a newspaper. Ichiro groaned and focused One For All into his body, like it had previously, red, glowing veins, began to line his body and eventually into his arm,

"Not like that!" Izuku yelled, startling Ichiro,

"How then, Mr Midoriya sir?" Ichiro called,

"You'll have to figure it out, otherwise you wont understand it completely." The elderly man resumed reading his newspaper, skipping over any articles that involved Captain Power. The rest of the day went on sluggishly slow, and Ichiro took many breaks, asking both Hanako and Ochako for advice, however he was unsuccessful. After dinner, Ichiro returned to the training room with Izuku to do their last round of training, Ichiro had broken three fingers and sprained his ankle whilst trying to control One For All, both Ochako, Hanako and Izuku told him to stop but he was persistent. Izuku had told Ichiro that he would have done the same if he were in Ichiro's shoes. The pain, at this point, had been reduced to a mild ache when he moved his ankle, so Ichiro was feeling prepared. However, no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to click into place for Ichiro, and he had to return home the next day,

"Sorry kid, looks like you didn't get it today, but soon." Izuku reassured, "You're free to stay up a little longer but I need to go to sleep, well done today though." Izuku flashed a broad grin and nodded to Ichiro before leaving the training room. Ichiro resumed his control training. _Just a little longer._

It was seven-thirty in the morning again when Izuku Midoriya got out of bed, leaving his beloved wife's side. She'd been crying in the night, whispering the name _Toshinori_. Izuku checked the guest room only to find Ichiro wasn't there. Izuku trotted downstairs and into the training room and found what he was looking for. Ichiro stood there, bags under his eyes, and trembling, but he surrounded by unkempt, blue sparks, similar to that of Izuku's _full cowl_ except for the obvious colour difference. The determined boy clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, then smiled at Izuku, before the sparks subsided. Ichiro took a deep breath,

"Have you been up all night?" Izuku asked,

"Yeah." Ichiro replied,

"What is that form?"

"I call it … One For All: Burst Rush!" Ichiro declared, proudly.

One For All: Burst Rush

Ichiro can temporarily power up to use 15% of One For All's maximum power throughout his body for 5-6 seconds, if he stays in the form for too long, however, his bones will begin to be strained and eventually break.

"Impressive, and how much of One For All's power can you currently control?" Izuku queried,

"I'm not completely sure, about fifteen percent I think." Ichiro replied,

"And for how long?"

"Around five to six seconds before I start to feel a lot of pain and probably break my bones."

"Is there a … cool down period?" Izuku observed,

"I used it a minute later and, for the six seconds, felt fine again." Ichiro said, hoping that Mr Midoriya would approve,

"A power up form that has a time limit of five to six seconds and a maximum cool down period of around a minute." Izuku confirmed. Ichiro winced, expecting to be scolded,

"That's pretty great kid." Izuku patted Ichiro on the back, acknowledging the boy's innovation, "You've done really well, and that'll come in handy." Ichiro grinned, ecstatic,

"When I was your age, I was much more self-sacrificing." Izuku began, "One time I used One For All on the same broken arm three times!" Ichiro's moth opened wide,

"What?" He exclaimed,

"But that's a story for another day." Izuku declared, putting a stop to Ichiro's oncoming question spree,

"You've already gotten admitted to UA, right?" Izuku queried. Ichiro nodded, "Good. Your on track to becoming a hero." Izuku proclaimed, "By the way, why do you want to become a hero?" Izuku called, inquisitively. Ichiro turned, "I actually didn't like heroes before, actually, I still don't like most heroes nowadays: most of them are greedy and only do it for the pay-out or fame, rather than doing it because it's the right thing to do." Ichiro answered, "But Hanako showed me that there are good heroes out there, and she told me that if I don't step up and help, that the people I love could die. Then I realised, that if I want to protect my loved ones and change hero society for the better, then I can't stand around and let others do it for me." Ichiro stood, proudly. The sagacious hero smiled,

"Seems like a plan." He said.

That same day, Haruto arrived and took Ichiro and Hanako on the long journey home, after the pair had said their goodbyes to the elderly Midoriyas. The limousine stopped off a few blocks away from the Children's home,

"I'll be in touch." Hanako called as Ichiro got out of the luxurious car, "Make sure to keep up your training, and try to get a better handle on that Rush form." His mentor instructed,

"Yeah I will, bye." Ichiro said. Hanako smiled brightly and waved her petite hands before Ichiro shut the car door and began sauntering down the road, humming tunes thoughtfully,

"I'm back." Ichiro called, after entering the Children's home,

"Hi!" Ren and Yuuto boomed as they charged down the hall, chasing each other,

"Welcome back Ichiro. How was the trip?" Chika asked,

"Good." Ichiro replied, supressing an effulgent smile. Later, in the kid's room, Ichiro checked his phone; there was a single message from Hanako: _The U.A. semester begins after the summer, not long now. I'm really proud of your progress Ichiro; you'll be a great hero someday._

 **And that was chapter seven, geez this is going quickly. Sadly, all the slots for 1A are now filled but you can still send Pro, Villain or 1B submissions (please keep in mind that 1B will not be featuring in the story much). I would appreciate if you could leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	8. Chapter 8

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

It was seven o'clock in the morning, and the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, transforming the skies from a dull grey to an orange. Cars beeped their horns softly on the streets down below, whilst men and women alike strolled down the streets. Ichiro awoke, to Ren and Yuuto arguing. The two were playing Lego, or, more accurately, fighting with Lego.

"Can you stop?" Ichiro asked. The two boys turned to look at Ichiro, angry yet cute looks on their faces,

"Sorry." They both replied simultaneously. Today marked the end of the summer holidays, and the beginning of Ichiro's career at UA. His bags and suitcases were packed. Ichiro was truly ready to leave the Children's home once and for all, as UA was a boarding school. The boy had cherished the remnant of the summer holidays with his adoptive family, although he promised to visit often. Ichiro laid his head back on his pillow. _This is the last time I'll lay in this bed_ he thought, sadly. A quiet knock came on the worn door and all three boys were jolted from their thoughts,

"Time to wake up." Chika said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Both Ren and Yuuto were dressed in their uniform, although Ichiro was still in his pyjamas,

"Can you guys let me get dressed please?" Ichiro groaned. The two mischievous boys nodded and exited the dorm, leaving Ichiro by himself. Rolling out of bed, Ichiro reached for his phone, then placed his feet firmly on the ground. _Where did I leave the uniform?_ Ichiro thought. His UA School uniform had been dropped off to him recently in the post, packaged neatly, but Ichiro had lost it somewhere. He began scouring the room. _Was it in the wardrobe? No. Was it on the shelf? No._ Ichiro finally checked under his bed, which was incredibly dusty, and saw the package. A sigh of relief came from the boy as he reached for his uniform and slowly put it on. Sluggishly, he began changing until he was completely ready: there were no inconsistencies about his attire. Ichiro traipsed down the narrow staircase and into the kitchen, where Chika, Ren and Yuuto sat, eating their breakfast quietly. Ichiro joined them and awkwardly munched on a piece of toast slightly lathered with margarine. He detested margarine.

"What's wrong?" Ichiro said,

"Nothing." Chika replied, flashing an unconvincing smile. Suddenly, Ren broke into tears,

"I don't want you to go Ichiro, you're gonna forget about us!" He sobbed,

"No!" Ichiro exclaimed, "There's no way in the whole world that I'd _ever_ forget about you. I'm gonna visit you at least once a month, don't worry." Ichiro reassured. Ren sniffled, and looked down to the ground. Ichiro pat Ren on the back, sadly and gave a smile. Spirits were slightly improved after that and a conversation began,

"So what hero name are you going to use?" Yuuto asked, eagerly,

"I'm not sure." Ichiro remarked, "I'll have to think about it."

The four finished breakfast and marched Ichiro down to the door. Once he stepped out of this door, UA would be his official home, although Ichiro knew that this would always be his true home. The boy had no idea what awaited him beyond this door, but he felt ready,

"Bye Ichiro." Ren and Yuuto said, hugging Ichiro tightly,

"Don't worry, I'll call tonight, ok?" The boys nodded at Ichiro's proposition and ran off to the front room. It was just Ichiro and Chika.

"So, you're gonna be a hero. Who would've thought, you said you didn't like heroes." Chika reminisced. Ichiro was confused, where was this conversation going? "But-" Chika began, a single tear in her left eye,

"I know you'll make a fine one." She then pulled Ichiro into a huge embrace, "Please be safe, and do come and see us." Chika pleaded,

"Of course I will." Ichiro said.

"Ok then." Chika said, regaining her usual composure, "You best be off."

"Right." Ichiro agreed. He turned to leave but hesitated,

"Chika." He called. The kind, motherly woman that had cared so much for him turned to face the boy once again,

"I love you."

After his train journey through Musutafu – which was shorter than his original train to school – Ichiro arrived in the sprawling UA building. He recognized some students walking through the gates, namely the snow-white haired girl he had sat next to at the exam briefing. He secured his backpack on his shoulders and took steady steps forward. _Hanako's probably sweating bullets right now_ Ichiro thought, and laughed,

"What are you laughing about?" queried a female voice from behind Ichiro. He turned to face the voice. She had dark purple skin and two white horns on her head made of bone, which fascinated Ichiro, in addition to dark red hair.

"Nothing." Ichiro replied, scratching his head, embarrassed. The girl pursed her lips and shrugged, the sauntered toward the UA entrance along with the other students, all a diverse array of shapes and sizes,

"Things are about to get interesting." Ichiro muttered and walked up the steps and into the main building.

He was met with a large room, complete with a desk that many first-years lined up behind, all chattering zealously. There was a coffee table surrounded by two empty comfortable-looking chairs. Ichiro took his place in the line, standing behind a tall boy with his hair cut into a flat top. He looked generally quite bland, except for the exposed part of his right arm, which was a black metal with golden accents. Many people around them commented on how cool his arm looked,

"Wow why is your arm like that?" A boy asked,

"Oh, it's my quirk." The boy replied,

"It's not _that_ cool." A girl commented. The group fawning over the boys arm turned to see a girl with an oval-shaped head with short platinum blonde hair reaching to her shoulders in soft curls; her fringe was split from the right corner and she had slightly half-lidded eyes with long eyelashes. A beauty mark at the bottom corner of her eye shaped into a star was present on her face, and she had a pale skin complexion,

"I bet your quirk isn't any better." Someone uttered,

"What!" The girl bellowed, furiously,

"Hey, we should all relax." Ichiro said, clearly on edge,

"Fine." The fiery girl grumbled, "But you better not make fun of me again!" She shouted. Pure silence came from the group. _Tough crowd_ Ichiro thought. Finally, Ichiro reached the receptionist desk and checked in,

"Name please." The receptionist droned on,

"Ichiro Kanzagi." Ichiro replied quietly. However, a collective gasp came from the students,

"Isn't he that guy who fought that villain at the entrance exam?"

"Yeah."

"Earth bender talked about him." Ichiro's face became a bright red as people continued to discuss him,

"Drop your bags off at the cart, they will be delivered to your dorm. Please make your way to class 1A." The receptionist said, unenthusiastically.

"Hey, I'm in that class." The fiery girl called as Ichiro walked off,

"Lucky me." He mumbled.

The door opened to reveal a simple, rectangular classroom lined with desks and a board at the front. Many people were already seated in their desks, as the seating plan was visible on the board. Ichiro was seated next to someone called Cora Sangeki, and behind someone called Takashi Inuzuka. ' _Right at the back'_ Ichiro thought. He strode toward the seat, located on the far left side of the back of the class, and slumped down, taking off his bag and retrieving his pencil case from its dusty depths. There was no one too standoffish or noticeable in the class, except for the girl with horns – who had just entered the class. A girl sat next to him and took her black satchel from her side; she was a beautiful girl with golden blonde hair done in a messy ponytail. Her body was curvaceous and womanly, despite her face looking innocent and young. She grunted softly and turned to face Ichiro,

"Hey." She nodded. The girl's eyes were a light hazel, but, instead of normal pupils, she had dark vertical slits. She wore the standard female UA uniform: A grey blazer, white shirt, navy blue skirt and formal shoes. Her face was both carefree and disgruntled,

"Hey." Ichiro said, ' _Cora Sangeki_ ' he thought.

"Wait, you're the one that fought the villain in the exam, right?" Cora asked. Many people turned to face him,

"Yeah he is." They all said in unison. Ichiro sighed, ready for the tsunami of questions. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the door sliding open, and a gasp coming from 1A. A boy with pale skin, large green eyes and sandy blonde hair walked into the room. His body was fairly toned and muscular and he appeared to be around 5,5 in height. The whole room was silent as he looked to the board and snaked towards his assigned chair.

"Is that?" A boy with light blue, almost grey, hair and an orange birthmark beneath his left eye murmured,

"Yeah." An unidentified voice replied. The center of attention sat down, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Everybody went deadly silent except for a few whispers in the class. A few more students filled into the class: the fiery girl walked in, as well as the girl with no pupils, and the boy that seemed to have sand in his hair from the written exam. All the chairs in class 1A were filled, yet the lacked a teacher. As soon as the clock struck half-eight the door to the classroom opened once again and the pro-hero Earth-Bender walked in. The class made a surprised sound as they saw him. The pro had sharp, unkempt, grey eyes and a shock of hair the color of polished wood, slicked backwards. His body was that of a runners, not too muscular, but impressive and toned. He wore his hero outfit: a brown, sleeveless body warmer with red accents over a long sleeved burgundy shirt and baggy camouflage trousers; his hero costume was minimalistic, and you would have never guessed his quirk off it either,

"Settle down class." He said, loudly. 1A obeyed without second thought, any squeak from before was eradicated, leaving a slightly disturbing silence. "I want to officially welcome you UA." The hero continued,

"Is it true that, now Captain Power's gone, you're the number one hero?" The short boy from the practical exam called out,

"Yes that is correct." Earth-Bender replied, obtusely, getting a 'wow' from the class, "There are many heroes who are relative to me … and some who are beyond me, but, according to the government and all the hero agencies, I am now the number one hero in Japan." The pro enunciated,

"Spicy." The short boy chortled,

"Moving on." The hero began, "I'd like you to address me as Mr. Iwasaki, please." Mr. Iwasaki smiled, warmly, which surprised the class, "Here –at UA- you will not only train to become heroes, but learn _how_ to beheroes. In the mornings, you will have classroom subjects. The basics, such as English and Math will be taught, but you will also take heroism class and quirk science. In the afternoon, you will do your practical training, understood."

"Yes sir." The class said, solemnly,

"Good, well then… go beyond, plus ultra." The teacher said, giving a thumb up to the class.

"Ok then, today you're going to get settled in. Take some time to get to know each other and then you'll have heroism class, taught by Huntress." Mr. Iwasaki informed,

"Just a question." A boy said, raising his hand. He had scruffily cut, medium length, left parted auburn hair and sharp eyes with light hazel irises; the boy was lean, but also rather toned and muscular, "On my paper, it said that our class was mainly going to be taught by huntress, but now it's you." The boy spoke both calmly and seriously,

"Yes. But, there was a last minute change and I took 1A. Huntress will now be mainly teaching 1B." Earth-Bender looked over to Ichiro, before turning to face the whole class, "Well then, are you ready?" Mr. Iwasaki asked. The class nodded. "Great. Let's do the register." Their teacher sat at his desk and looked to his laptop. "Kasyo Aizawa."

"Here"

"Shimeka Daitan."

"Here"

"Suna Hamasaki."

"Here"

"Imari Hanakai."

"Here"

"Shiro Hayashi."

"Here"

"Takashi Inuzuka."

"Here"

"Ichiro Kanzagi."

"Here"

"Kobachi Komushi."

"Here"

'Kado Kowalski."

"Here"

"Ken Koyami."

"Here"

"Ellix Francisco Midori-Barbaros."

"Here"

"Yasuo Okumura."

"Here"

"Cora Sangeki."

"Here"

"Takeshi Sayiki."

"Here"

"Hajime Sugiyama."

"Here"

"Nano Todoroki." Another huge gasp came from the class as a girl with long hair the color of polished platinum raised her hand,

"No way. She's the granddaughter of Shoto!" The girl with horns exclaimed.

"Class!" Mr. Iwasaki shouted, a more serious look appearing on his almost symmetrical face. A single scar was present on the left side of his lip. "Thank you." The teacher said once the commotion died down,

"Kukiko Uyeda."

"Here"

"Hoshi Watanabe."

"Here"

"Seth Yurugami"

"Here"

"All right then. That's the register done. Talk among yourselves; get to know each other, since you're going to be spending a lot of time with the people in this class." Mr. Iwasaki declared.

Ichiro's class spoke for about an hour. They discussed many meager things, whilst Ichiro generally kept to himself. He heard a conversation start,

"Hey Hoshi. Why do you wear that mask over your mouth?"

"Oh, it's my quirk." He replied, in muffled words.

Hoshi Watanabe

Quirk: Blinding Smile

His teeth are so white that they give off a blinding light that can impair his enemy's vision.

Ichiro looked around; there were so many strong people in this class. ' _I need to try my best._ ' He told himself in his secluded thoughts,

"Ok class. You've got heroism class now, then lunch and, finally, your introduction to practical training." Mr. Iwasaki announced. A collective cheer came from the class. _'This is it._ Ichiro thought _'It's time to show the world who I really am!'_

"What's that determined face you're pulling?" Cora teased, smirking at Ichiro. The boy's cheeks flushed hot red,

"Nothing!" He said, looking face down at his desk. "Dammit." The embarrassed boy muttered.

 **Thanks for reading. Sorry for the late upload, went away for the weekend. All 1A spots are unfortunately gone, but feel free to send 1B students, Pro heroes and villains. If your OC got accepted, could you please send their hero costume if you haven't already. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	9. Chapter 9

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

A small slip of paper was given to Ichiro as he exited the 1A homeroom to head to heroism class; it was his timetable. Gripping it tightly as he stumbled in the line of his classmates, he glanced at the paper: his afternoons were taken up by practical training, whilst the mornings had simple, normal school subjects, as well as quirk science and heroism. 1A promenaded down the wide halls of the prestigious school, chattering as they went, and Ichiro began sweating in the huge pileup. The class eventually arrived at the class, laid out exactly like their homeroom,

"Welcome class!" Huntress exclaimed, turning to face the tsunami of eager students,

"Fantastic." She said, brandishing a toothy grin. The pro took the register, "Great, we're all here." She declared,

"Welcome to heroism class. Here we will study, you guessed it, heroism."

"What can we expect to do in this class?" A boy asked, his hair was a dark shade of blue and his eyes were as black as coal; his pale skin seemed unnatural in the artificial light of the classroom,

"Good question." Huntress began, "In this class we will study things like hero law, hero theory and of course, what being a hero means,

"I didn't sign up to UA for a philosophy lesson." A boy whispered, grumpily, a few seats away from Ichiro; he had shaggy, dark brown hair and almond-shaped eyes,

"Ok then class, today we are going to be talking about our own goals and ideals as future heroes." Huntress said, a satisfied smile on her face, "So what does being a hero mean to you guys." The short, blonde boy raised his hand,

"I think being a hero is the desire to make a difference, no matter how big or small." He declared,

"Fantastic. I like that answer." The pro announced, "What about you?" She asked to the auburn-haired boy sitting thoughtfully in the corner of the classroom. He looked up, and made eye-contact with the hero, before claiming,

"I'd rather not say."

"That's fine. You don't have to if you don't' want to. I takes time for heroes to develop their goals and confidence, anybody else?" Unexpectedly, the boy, whom everyone had gasped at, raised his hand. Huntress nodded.

"I think being a hero means carving your own path for yourself, no matter your history." He said, rather blankly, and resumed his hunched stature on his chair,

"Ok, good." Huntress replied, "Anyone else." For the duration of the lesson they went around the class, each person said something about their own ideals until they came to Ichiro,

"And you … Kanzagi?" Huntress had started to learn the class's names,

" Uh…." Ichiro mumbled,

"Just say something." Cora whispered over to him,

"I think being a hero is the desire to always help and give hand, no matter what, even when it isn't your business." Ichiro proclaimed. That was what Hanako had told him. Most of the class nodded, and Huntress seemed satisfied,

"Ok saint valiant." Cora said, playfully,

"What was I meant to say?" Ichiro whispered, chuckling.

When the bell finally rang for the end of class, everyone stood and left the room calmly. Huntress congratulated them on a good first lesson. Mr Iwasaki had instructed 1A to head to lunch after heroism, and they were doing just that, chattering meagrely as they went. The pro hero lunch-rush had long since retired, and the job of making food for the aspiring heroes was left to a few skilful chefs, who did the job almost as well as their predecessor. Ichiro queued up for his food, which was a simple rice dish, and sat down at an unoccupied table,

"Hey, can I sit here?" A boy from 1A asked,

"Sure." Ichiro nodded. The boy had platinum blonde, almost white, hair, as well as an athletic, but not large, body.

"I'm Ken Koyami." The boy said, reaching out a tanned hand. Ichiro shook it.

"I'm Ichiro Kanzagi." He said,

"How you liking UA?" Ken queried,

"It's a bit overwhelming, you know. You're surrounded by all these amazing people, and it seems impossible to keep up."

"I get that." Ken agreed, "I really want to know who the strongest is in the school." Ichiro smiled, glad that Ken either didn't know who he was, or that he didn't care. Out of the corner of his eye, Ichiro noticed the outcast boy sitting down at a table, alone.

"Do you know what's up with him?" Ichiro asked, curiously,

"You don't know who he is? Seriously?" Ken said, surprised, "That's the son of Captain Barbaros: the famous pirate villain. He was a key player in that small war between heroes and villains over in the Caribbean. Ring any bells?" Ichiro definitely recognized the name, but he had no clue that such a famous villain had a son, that no less got admitted to the most prestigious hero school in the whole world. The boy looked lonely, munching on his food, so Ichiro stood,

"I'm gonna go and talk to him." He declared, valiantly, and began walking towards the table. He stopped once he was about a meter away from the lonely boy, "Hi, I'm Ichiro." He said, kindly. The boy looked up, and studied Ichiro, his pale complexion and dark, scruffy hair shining in the sunlight that leaked through the expansive glass windows of the food hall.

"Ellix." The boy responded, gruffly, resuming his eating.

"Can I sit down?" Ichiro asked. Ellix nodded. "So, how are things?" Ichiro asked, awkwardly,

"Dandy." Ellix replied, sarcastically,

"You know, you shouldn't care if you're the son of a villain. It's the things you do that should decide who you are, not anybody else's." Ichiro said, hoping for a good outcome. Ellix stopped eating his food and looked at Ichiro, then, suddenly, the blank expression on his face turned into a slight smile,

"Thanks." He said, calmly,

"No problem." Ken came over to the table,

"There room for one more." He questioned, and both Ichiro and Ellix nodded. A round of surprised noises came from the table next to Ichiro's,  
"So, do you have a fire and ice quirk just like your grandfather?" A voice asked. Ichiro, Ken, and even Ellix peeked over the back of the chair to see the commotion. There sat Nano Todoroki, the girl from Ichiro's class, surrounded by a bunch of students, including those from 1A,

"I've told you a million times that is not my quirk. She grumbled, almost robotically. There must have been at least ten people crowded round the table,

"Someone doesn't like attention." Ken chuckled lightly, sitting back in his chair. It was now five minutes to one and lunch was almost over. After this they had hero training, which Ichiro was anxious about. When the bell rang the trio stood and began making their way to the door, along with the rest of the students, however Ichiro heard a loud call, and turned to see who it was. The voice belonged to the brown haired boy, who'd called heroism a philosophy lesson,

"So you're the one who came first in the entrance exam, aren't you?" He sneered. A crowd of first-years, from an assortment of different classes, began crowding around the two,

"Yeah…" Ichiro replied, unenthusiastically,

"Well don't get any ideas, ok. I'll prove that I'm just as good as you are." He said, with a surprising calm demeanour,

"Let the best man win." Ichiro said, trying not to spark an argument.

"Yeah." The boy said, and strolled in the opposite direction. _'I really hope no one else picks a fight with me.'_ Ichiro thought, as he walked with the bustling crowd towards his first hero course training session.

The UA campus was a sprawling, luscious, green area with the main school building at its centre, which was surrounded by their many training grounds. Some were expansive, fake cities, whilst others were dull, rectangular buildings. Slightly overwhelmed, Ichiro remembered what Hanako had told him,

"Remember kid, just do your best and worry about all the extra stuff." Here words echoed in his head. Ichiro had been much more laid back before he received One For All, but now he felt like the whole world was on his shoulder, and, in some ways, it was. He stopped before one of the rectangular buildings and looked at the sign propped up in front. **Ground Alpha** the sign read in bold, stylistic writing.

"This is it." Ichiro said, taking a deep breath. His fellow classmates began swarming through the doors right past him. It was time.

The inside of the building was simplistic. There were grey, stone tiles on the floor as well as the walls. The first room was rather small, and completely empty, however there were two doors on the far left and right of wall opposite the entrance. The left door had the word **girls** on it, whilst the left had the word **boys**. 1A gathered in a messy, semi-circle before Mr Iwasaki,

"Good, you're all here." He yawned, looking to the boring ceiling, then at the students,

"Get changed and meet me in the gym." He instructed,

"Into what?" The fiery girl chortled,

"You each have assigned lockers, you'll find what you need there." And with that, 1A made their way to the changing rooms and began changing.

Most of the boys had impressive bodies, and all of them had good enough bodies. Many students were toned and muscular, some, including Ichiro, having light six-packs, although no boy even glanced at another as they swiftly got out of their uniform and into their sports kit,

"I wonder what our first exercise will be." Ken pondered, as those who had finished getting changed came into the gym, which was a long, rectangular room with light grey tiles. There were balcony-like areas high up in the gym, no doubt for spectators. A few girls were already in the gym with the boys. Mr Iwasaki strolled into the gym through a door on the other end of the gym,

"Ok class, start warming up, no quirk use." He said, clearly. Many weights, treadmills and other fitness items were laid out around it,

"All right!" Ken yelled, confidently, and began stretching. Ichiro followed suite as the remainder of 1A entered the gym, wearing their new sports kit. Once class A did their stretches, then had a go on the fitness items, Mr Iwasaki called them to stop and focus. The teacher pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. Suddenly, the weights and treadmills were all pulled into the ground, leaving a blank gym in its wake.

"I'm going to give you all a combat demonstration, as the majority of training you'll do here will be just that – combat training." Mr Iwasaki explained,

"Kanzagi." The pro said, "Care to give me a hand in the demonstration?" Ichiro was stunned,

"Wh-Why me sir?" Ichiro asked, masking his surprise,

"You performed well at the entrance exam, and I think you'll do well in this demonstration too." Mr Iwasaki enunciated,

"Ok sir." Ichiro said, his signature determined look appearing on his face,

"Class, please make your way up to the spectator area." Mr Iwasaki said. Once they were all up there, looking down at the two, Ichiro got into combat stance, "Ichiro, if you can land one hit on me in two minutes, then you win. If you can't, then I win, understood." Ichiro nodded,

"Alright then, come at me." Mr Iwasaki said, calmly. Blue sparks began to surround Ichiro, as he powered up into One For All: Burst Rush. A gasp came from some of his classmates as they laid eyes upon Ichiro. _'Ok, I've got_ _about five seconds before I start to put serious strain on my body, then I've got to wait around fifteen seconds before I can use it safely again, got to make it count'_ Ichiro thought. He then proceeded to launch himself towards his teacher at startling speeds. Another gasp came from the class. Ichiro threw his fist back and went for a punch, however a sturdy, stone precipice rose from the ground and blocked his attack. Only a small crack was made on it. Mr Iwasaki jumped backwards, once again forming a distance between the two combatants. _Three seconds left._ Ichiro jumped over the precipice and made his way for his teacher once again, preparing a punch, however going for a low sweep instead. This time a great stonewall was formed between the two. Ichiro got a look at Mr Iwasaki's calm, collected face before the wall rose and realized that he most likely wasn't trying. The boy's thoughts were interrupted when a rectangular stone block rose from the ground and struck Ichiro in the stomach, sending him hurtling back. He landed with a thud, deactivating Burst Rush as to not cause any serious harm to his body,

"Go on Ichiro!" Ken called from the spectator area. _'I've got around fifteen seconds till I can use burst rush safely again'_ Ichiro thought, warily. He took a few steps back, trying to stall,

"Staying away from someone who's superior in range power to you, rookie mistake." The experienced pro uttered before two slender stone blocks rose and struck Ichiro. The boy barely managed to guard the swift attack, however it still bruised his arms and left a jarring ache in them. The gym was now covered in an assortment of stone structures and shapes. Mr Iwasaki clicked his fingers and the stone structures broke to pieces, making it easier for Ichiro to traverse and see. "I've still got ten seconds." Ichiro muttered under his breath and began circling around the teacher. Mr Iwasaki stuck his hand out and a precipice came hurtling towards the boy, which he barely dodged. This continued for a few seconds, and Ichiro, miraculously, managed to dodge all the oncoming attacks. _'Cool down's up.'_ Blue sparks once again surrounded Ichiro; they coursed around his body quickly and randomly. Instead of jumping, Ichiro began running towards the pro in a circling motion then punched the ground, sending reasonably strong vibrations and stopping the pro's coming attack,

"Impressive." Mr Iwasaki said. Ichiro punched, aiming for his teacher's body, however the pro dodged the punch, effortlessly. It wasn't just his quirk that was strong. A rectangular precipice rose from beneath Ichiro's flying body and struck him hard in the stomach. The boy's eyes whited out as his body flew backwards and hit the wall, hard. Many members of the class made 'Ooh' noises as they heard the connection. Ichiro collapsed in a heap on the floor, body trembling, "Ok, that's enough." The pro said, striding towards Ichiro and kneeling to check on him, "Kanzagi, are you all right?" The teacher asked, concerned for his student's wellbeing,

"Yeah I'm alright." Ichiro sputtered, grimacing. Once he could stand, 1A made their way down to the gym floor and made a crowd before their teacher,

"Not bad." The dark-blue haired boy that Huntress had earlier called Shiro Hayashi said, nodding to Ichiro,

"Thanks." Ichiro replied, still holding the area in which his stomach was struck,

"Do you understand now class? That's the type of training you'll be doing here." Mr Iwasaki proclaimed, "Now for our last exercise of the day, sparring. Find a partner and spar with them, no quirk use allowed. We'll begin the difficult stuff tomorrow. Kanzagi, I would recommend for you to sit out." Ichiro, still feeling winded, agreed, and watched his classmates go at each other until Mr Iwasaki finally called for them to stop,

"Good job today class." Mr Iwasaki congratulated, "As you know UA is a boarding school, and this campus is your current residence. Please stop off at the first year building, head to your dorm, and get settled in. You're free to do whatever after that. You can get extra training in, you can study, you can relax, or you can leave the grounds, but you have to be back here for ten PM, understood." A resounding, rather unenthusiastic 'Yes' came from the class,

"Great. Go beyond …"

"PLUS ULTRA!" The class finished the phrase, gleefully.

"I'll see you all at eight-thirty tomorrow morning." Mr Iwasaki said, and walked in the opposite direction, waving his hand as he moved. The class all exited the building and made their way to the first year building.

Unlike the other buildings, the 1st year building wasn't dull. It towered above the students, with seven floors, each dedicated to each of the first year classes. 1A was located on the top floor, and below them were 1B and all the other classes. The first floor, which was dedicated to class 1H, also had a small room complete with a coffee table and chairs as well as an elevator and colossal flight of stairs going up to the higher floors. Some of 1A began making their way up the stairs whilst others waited or the elevator. Ichiro decided to take the stairs.

Once he reached the final floor, Ichiro took his phone out his bag and checked the time. _3:47 PM._ He heard a gasp from the front room only to find the horned girl jumping uncontrollably beside Cora, who looked unsatisfied with the whole ordeal. She looked at Ichiro. 'Someone's excited' she mouthed and Ichiro laughed quietly. The rest of 1A came into the common room and were left in awe. It was a rectangular room with multiple, comfortable couches and chairs, a huge plasma screen TV complete with the latest games console, a few games, and four controllers. A coffee table was also present, separating the chairs from the TV. On the left corridor from the common room were all the boy's rooms, and the right corridor was home to all the girl's rooms. There was also a kitchen in the room next to the common room, which had a stove, a sink and cupboards and a fridge stock full with food for the students.

"This is my kind of place." Ken said, pumping his fist in the air. After 1A had explored the common room and kitchen, they each went to their own rooms. Ichiro took his key card that had been given to him earlier and slotted it in to the reader. Suddenly, the door flung open and Ichiro was met with a medium sized room. The carpet was a dark shade of blue and sleek, cream paint lined the walls. To the immediate right, in the corner, was a single bed with grey sheets and a white pillow; at the far right of the room was a desk with all the necessary books for Ichiro's time at UA, and at the far left was a large TV with the same games console form the common room arranged on the shelf next to it; a bean bag was before the TV. A door that went into a shiny, en-suite bathroom was present on the left side of the room. A wardrobe was on the immediate left. The boy's one suitcase sat idly in the centre of the room. Ichiro had never had a room to himself before; it felt odd. Once he'd put his clothing into the wardrobe and his toiletries in the bathroom, Ichiro got out of his uniform and changed into a slightly oversized red T-shirt, black tracksuit bottoms and grey socks. After laying down on the luxurious bed, Ichiro got his new phone, that Hanako had got for him, and called Chika's mobile. A voice spoke from the phone,

"Ichiro, you called." Chika said, gleefully, "Boys, Ichiro's on the phone." Ichiro heard loud rumbling and the Yuuto's voice,

"Hi Ichiro! How was your first day?" The boy asked,

"Yeah!" Ren chimed in,

"It was eventful guys." Ichiro replied, happy to hear familiar voices, in the sea of unknown he had recently plummeted into. Ichiro told the boys and Chika everything about his day, and when he was finally finished Chika decided it was finally time to hang up,

"Bye Ichiro." She said,

"Call back tomorrow." Ren shouted,

"Don't worry, I will." Ichiro said and hung up the phone. He sighed. A few relaxing minutes later a text came in from Hanako.

H: ' _How was your first day.'_

I: _Interesting. I fought earth-bender.'_

H: _'Really? How did it go?'_

I: _'I didn't stand a chance'_

H: _'Don't worry kid, you'll get there someday.'_

I: _'I hope so.'_

H: ' _Why don't you stop by my office tomorrow?'_

I: ' _Sure.'_

H: _'Ok have to go now bye.'_

I: _'Bye'_

Ichiro closed the texting app and checked the time; it was five-thirty. He decided to go and get some food.

Ellix and Cora were both in the kitchen. Ellix was feasting on honey, whilst Cora was drinking water. Her hair was no longer done in a ponytail, instead her blonde hair fell on her shoulders and down her back; the girl now wore a sleeveless shirt and shorts that fell relatively far above her knees. She nodded to Ichiro and washed the rest of her drink down the sink and began walking to the exit, swaying her curvaceous hips as she went. Ichiro looked to the ceiling, hiding his face, which had gone as red as a tomato. When Cora finally left the room, the eleventh user of One For All took a sigh of relief,

"You like her." Ellix said, obtusely,

"What, no way!" Ichiro lied,

"It's ok, I don't care." Ellix said, "I won't tell."

"Ok then, thanks." Ichiro said holding his hand out. Ellix looked stunned at the gesture, but clasped Ichiro's hand anyway. The rest of the night was simple. Ichiro had dinner, talked to his classmates and finally returned to his cosy dorm. Wrapping himself up in his sheets, Ichiro turned off the lamp, and sailed peacefully into the ocean of dreams.

 **Thanks so much for reading. If your character was accepted, could you send there hero costume if you haven't already. Don't worry; I'll start introducing their quirks in the next chapter, as it's the first joint training exercise, so stay tuned for that. 1B, Hero and Villain OC submissions are still open. I would appreciate it if you leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	10. Chapter 10

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

The sound of an alarm echoed throughout Ichiro's UA room. The boy's eyes fluttered open, and he surveyed his surroundings, half expecting to be back at the Children's home, as if it was all just a dream. However, it was not a dream, and Ichiro was quite honestly glad. Reaching for his phone, Ichiro stared at the golden sunlight leaking through the window's blinds. He checked the time, _07:00_. He had a whole hour and a half before class started, although he imagined that with time, Ichiro would begin to wake up much later. He slowly rolled out of bed and landed on the carpeted floor with a thud. Ichiro groaned, then sluggishly rose from the floor and stumbled towards the bathroom door. After having a shower and brushing his teeth, Ichiro put on his school shirt and trousers, but left his shoes, tie and blazer for later. He had no clue as to what his classmates were like in the morning, heck he barely knew what they were like; nevertheless he was hopeful that they weren't all grumpy. His door opened, and he was once again met with the boy's corridor, the common room visible at the end of it. Ichiro sauntered down the narrow hallway until he finally arrived in the much more expansive common room. Nano, Seth, Ellix, as well as the pupil-less girl that huntress had called Imari and Shiro all sat contently on the many couches present. Most were scrolling on their phones or simply sitting there; most of them seemed like the quiet type,

"It's a nice morning, isn't it?" The girl with purple skin and horns said from behind Ichiro. She skipped into the room, exuding jocularity.  
"Yeah, it is." Ichiro replied, trying to conceal his croaky voice. Ichiro travelled into the kitchen only to find the brown-haired boy, who had challenged him yesterday, glugging a large glass of milk. He finished it, put the glass on the counter, and turned to Ichiro,

"Oh, morning." He said, gruffly. Ichiro nodded and marched towards the cupboard. He got a box of cereal, some milk, put the two in a bowl, and began eating on the small island in the rather chilly kitchen. Just like the night previous, Ichiro kept to himself, rarely making small talk with anyone. At 8:15 Ichiro stood from his place on the common room couch and began making his way to 1A, some had already left, whilst some of his other classmates were still lazing about. Ichiro didn't want to be late, but he didn't want to be too early either.

"Another day. Here we go." Ichiro muttered under his breath.

Tadashi stalked down the long alleyway. Barely any light shone down it, despite the obvious morning now taking full force. The villain had no features that identified him as one, other than his crude, crooked smile that he made when he was ready to strike; he wore a green hoodie, jeans and trainers, attempting to look as normal as possible. He exited the alleyway, and looked around. He was in All Might square. The many buildings and roads that had been destroyed in Venger's fateful battle with Captain Power were under construction, and were visible in the distance. Many people walked, doing their daily errands, passing Tadashi by. He had no intention of causing a commotion, either. He was there for a reason. The man crossed over the road and came into another alleyway, except this time the faint silhouette of a man was visible at the end of it. His appearance was reminiscent of a businessman. He wore a black suit with a black tie in a formal posture and had a fedora along with brown hair. The ominous man also wore black suit pants and black boots. His hands were behind his back, despite none of his facial features,

"Hey pal." He said with a coarse, but alluring voice,

"I think you walked into the wrong alley." The man drew a rusty combat knife,

"And you'll regret annoying me,"

"Trust me, it's the other way around." Tadashi sneered, annoyed by this wannabe's arrogance, "Your Damnation, right? I've been looking for you." The villain's mouth slightly opened. He sluggishly withdrew his knife, but Tadashi kept a safe hold on the weapon in his pocket,

"Who told you that?" Damnation snickered, curiously,

"Someone you made a deal with."

"Ok then. What do you want with me?"

"I'm making you an offer-" Tadashi began, although he was stopped,

"Hold it right there. _I_ make the offers here." Damnation interjected, although Tadashi shook his head,

"I'm giving you the offer of a lifetime. Aid me and …" Tadashi slurred the last word, "My comrades, and you'll be rewarded handsomely."

"How much?" Damnation growled,

"Enough to set you up for the rest of your life, and many lives after that." Tadashi said. The villain opposing him stopped, a look of genuine consideration on his face,

"Pleasure doing business with you!" He said, purred, reaching out his hand to shake Tadashi's. He took it. "Good, that's one off my list."

The morning of Ichiro's second day at UA was surprisingly average. They had English and history in the morning, then modern art before lunch, which Ichiro found utterly boring. Even lunch wasn't too chaotic. Everyone seemed to be a bit tamer today. Ichiro sat with Ken, and the two simply made small talk, until Ichiro finally asked about Ken's quirk,

"Oh, my quirk, it's called Skin Change."

Ken Koyami

Quirk: Skin Change

When he activates his quirk, his skin will take on the property of any material he touches. For example, if he touches wood, his skin will become wood. If the material reaches a point where it would be destroyed, his quirk will deactivate, and there will be a cool down period.

Ichiro was interested,

"That's awesome!" He exclaimed, a little too loudly. Ken slightly blushed at the compliment, but immediately countered with his own question,

"What about you – huh? I saw your quirk yesterday, but I don't know what it all about?" Ichiro slurred, and looked away for a moment thinking of a decent explanation,

"It's just a basic strength enhancer quirk, nothing too flashy, you now." Ichiro stuttered. Thankfully, Ken nodded. He seemed satisfied with the answer. The bell rung, and Ichiro, as well as the rest of 1A stood up to go to their hero training.

The simple, blue car came to a startling stop, and Tadashi stepped out, still brandishing his civilian outfit. Damnation was left in the car, grumbling to himself. They had arrived on Corelle Street, where two combatants were duking it out. The first fighter was the Pro Hero Assaultra, whilst the second was a man standing at approximately 6'9 feet tall. He had a very compact and muscular physique, whilst his eyes were navy blue. The man had the appearance of an all black dog, with large and pointed ears and a long snout; his expression was also comparable to that of a dog, vicious and snarling. The villain wore body armor with the words _DIESEL_ emblazoned on the chest.

"Time's up hero!" He shouted, a flicker of malice in his eyes. The villain clenched his fist and charged, hammering it down to the ground. Assaultra barely dodged, but the impact caused a small crater and made notably large chunks of concrete fly into the air. His movements were slow, but overwhelmingly powerful,

"Good." Tadashi whispered under his breath, nefariously. Relentlessly, the villain connected a punch with the laser hero, getting a solid knockout. Assaultra's body flew into a car; a deafening crack could be heard as it did. However, Tadashi noticed an abundance of forces coming round the corner.

 _How long had this fight been going on?_

Swiftly, Tadashi rushed towards the bulky man in front of him and barely placed his fingers on his shoulders. Tadashi's fingers suddenly glowed purple, and the villain began couching violently, then collapsed. He was unimaginably heavy, but Tadashi could just about hold him. Tadashi rapidly retreated to the car, which was now manned by Damnation, and it sped off, just before the reinforcements arrived.

"Today will be your very first joint training exercise." Mr. Iwasaki announced, cheerfully. An enthusiastic round of noises came from the class, although they weren't exactly cheers. "You're also going to be wearing your hero costumes for the first time, however!" Mr. Iwasaki put emphasis on and shouted the last word, "You are forbidden from using any of the more _dangerous_ abilities that your outfits may give you access to, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" The class responded,

"Good, now go get ready. I'll brief on the task once you're all ready." And with that, 1A began trotting towards the training rooms. They were now in Exercise building Charlie, located around the UA campus. The building was designed for practical tests and exams that tested the students in dynamic ways. Ichiro expected that would be the case today. After arriving in the training rooms, Ichiro opened his locker, and found his costume, wrapped in plastic. He took it out the bag and inspected it. The costume was incredibly simple: a shiny, black bodysuit with dark iron gauntlets and boots. It also had a belt that most likely housed a variety of gadgets, although there were none there. Ichiro had expected this, as he had simply listed his quirk as _Strength Enhancer_. Despite it's simplicity, the costume looked well on Ichiro. The boy made his way to the area in which they would be training, hoping that nothing _too_ out of hand happened.

The brutish villain's eyes opened and he sat up, startled,

"What happened?" He asked, rubbing his head. Tadashi, Damnation and this man were all in a moving car. It was still daylight.

"I poisoned you with my quirk." Tadashi chortled from the passenger seat. Damnation was still driving. "But don't worry, I cured it with the antidote." Tadashi shook a half-empty bottle of poison antidote,

"Why?" The man asked, furiously,

"You're Danghi Yuma, am I correct?" Tadashi queried,

"Yeah." The man grumbled,

"Perfect. Join us." Tadashi instructed,

"I'm all right, but thanks for the offer." Danghi snorted, fearlessly reaching for the car door handle even though the locomotive was still moving. Tadashi shook his head,

"No, no, no. If you leave then we'll hurt something very close to you." Tadashi roused, evilly. Danghi stopped dead in his tracks,

"Don't tell me?"

"We have your daughter Danghi, and if you want another chance at seeing her, then you'll do _exactly_ what we tell you to do." Tadashi chortled. Danghi unexpectedly became calm, although there were bubbling pools of rage and sorrow hidden behind his suddenly blank eyes,

"Wonderful." Tadashi said, extending his hand for Danghi to shake. But, all he got was a cold stare. The car continued to thunder down the road.

All of 1A had now gathered in the center room, before a large maze that had multiple entrances,

"Yo Ichiro!" Ken shouted. His hero outfit consisted of thick, gladiatorial armor the color of bronze that went down to his knees. _'Not very relevant to his quirk.'_ Ichiro thought,

"Watch this." Ken said, and pressed a button located on his shoulder. The torso part of his armor suddenly retracted and formed in a bundle at the center of his back; Ken was now shirtless, but the lower part of the armor still remained.

"Impressive." Ichiro complimented,

"Thanks." Ken replied. Cora passed the two of them; she wore a skintight, black bodysuit with a zip that went from below her navel area to her neck, although it was only slightly undone. She also had a hood that had two cat ears on it. Ichiro guessed that everyone's costumes would reveal more about their quirks.

"All right!" Mr. Iwasaki began. The whole class turned their attention to him, "Welcome to the maze. Today's exercise will pit ten of you against each other in the maze. The goal is to reach the center of the maze, and the first person to do so will claim victory."

"Are we allowed to make alliances?" Kobachi asked,

"Yes, you are permitted to team up with one another, but only once you're in the maze. And remember, there can only be one winner, so even if you have made a team, the first person to touch the flag in the center of the maze will take victory." Mr. Iwasaki explained,

"That doesn't seem very heroic." Ellix pointed out,

"You're correct Ellix." The Pro replied, "But I want you all to know that, sometimes, a hero has to do things that aren't necessarily heroic in order to do what's best. Do you all understand?" An awkward silence came from the class but they all eventually nodded their heads, "They'll have to realize it sooner or later." Mr. Iwasaki whispered under his breath.

"So, we might end up fighting each other!" Ken said, eccentrically,

"Yeah." Ichiro said. He was glad that he would finally get to see his classmates in action as well.

"These are the matchups for the first round." Mr. Iwasaki uttered, and a screen at the far left wall flickered on. It read:

Ken Koyami

Kukiko Uyeda

Kado Kowalski

Imari Hanakai

Suna Hamasaki

Hoshi Watanabe

Seth Yurugami

Shiro Hayashi

Kaida Tatsuma

Yasuo Okumura

"You will all be going head to head in order to reach the centre of the maze, now get ready and head to the starting positions outside the maze. The rest of you who will be participating next round, sit tightly." Mr Iwasaki said. Those whose names had appeared on the board circled round the outside of the maze, going to their assigned starting positions. Ichiro surveyed those who didn't get called; these would be the people he was going up against. Fortunately for Ichiro, the guy who had challenged him the day previous was among them. Ichiro wanted to test himself against him. The image on the screen changed once again to reveal a split screen of all the students at their starting areas,

"I wonder who'll win." Kasyo enthused, right before an electronic bell rung and all the students on the screen ran off. On the screen, the boy with the unusual birthmark under his eye immediately threw his hands forward and a circular, dark portal appeared in front of him,

Kado Kowalski

Quirk: Gateway

Kado can create a pair of linked circular portals within a certain distance of himself. These portals conserve momentum, can be oriented in any direction, and transport objects instantaneously between them.

"This will be easy." He claimed through muffled sounds on the large screen. He then proceeded to launch himself through the portal and arrived on the other side of the wall. A gasp came from the class; "Too bad I have a limit on the distance of my portals." He grumbled, and proceeded to create another one,

"Hey." Ken suddenly appeared on the screen, although his gladiatorial armor was no retracted and his skin was a dark metal,

"I'm lucky that these walls are made out of this material. I've got a decent advantage because of it. A bead of sweat trickled down Kado's head, and he attempted to make an escape portal, however, Ken came clunking towards the boy and connected a punch with the boy's chest. Kado was sent hurtling back into the opposite wall; he groaned in pain,

"Dammit." He muttered. It didn't seem as if he was going to get back up, so Ken deactivated his quirk and began running down the narrow hallways of the maze once again. The image on the screen changed to reveal the boy from the written exam known as Suna. His jet-black hair still appeared to be smothered in sand, and he had his hand on one of the walls, which was partly dissolving into sand.

Suna Hamasaki

Quirk: Sandbox

With this quirk, Suna is able to atomically transform matter and objects, including living beings, into sand through touch with not just his hands, but also his bare feet or even his arms or back as long as it is his skin. This quirk is irreversible so Suna had done his best to limit the objects he touched so that they do not turn into sand. Depending on the object's mass, size, and volume, it could take more than a few seconds for that object to turn into sand.

Suna wore a costume consisting of a solid black turtleneck tucked into baggy black pants. The ends of the pants went inside a pair of black combat boots. A device was strapped to his forearm that appeared to suction the sand he created from his quirk. There were also storage units for his sand on both sides of his thighs, and he brandished a pair of black goggles around his eyes. ' _Probably for protecting his eyes from all that sand._ ' Ichiro pondered. The image on the screen once gain changed to reveal Seth, the boy with the auburn hair and hazel eyes, graciously came round a corner and continued charging down the path. Seth wore an open dark grey trench-coat that went down to his knees, a black, tight undershirt that showed of his toned body, as well as black trousers and combat boots. Instead of using a dynamic quirk, however, Seth continued to run until he encountered Yasuo. Yasuo hair was baby blue, which complimented his outfit. It was simple, baggy, non-see-through plastic that looked rather risible. Seth looked rather annoyed at the prospect of encountering someone else, whilst Yasuo looked slightly intimidated. Seth charged at Yasuo zealously, and threw his fist back and went for a punch, however, right before the fist connected, Yasuo's whole body dissolved into water that fell into a puddle on the floor.

Yasuo Okumura

Quirk: Liquefy

Once his quirk is activated, his whole body becomes water that he can consciously move about as.

A look of surprise appeared on Seth's face as he slipped forward barely staying upright and using the corner of the bend to keep balanced. Suddenly, the puddle that was Yasuo trickled away at alarming speeds.

"Coward." The fiery girl called Shimeka murmured. The two went there separate ways,

"Keeping the goal in sight." Ellix commented, finally breaking his long round of silence. The screen's image changed once again to show the pupil-less girl that Ichiro had sat next to at the entrance exam briefing. ' _Imari Hanakai._ ' Ichiro remembered her being called. The girl's snow-white hair rippled slightly as she ran, as well as the white kimono that hung off her shoulder and exposed some of her cleavage. On the center of it was a white rose. She also sported a light blue oni sash. On her back of was a bag full of water with a straw attachment that fell close to her mouth.

"What's all that about? Does she need a drink or something?" Cora joked. The cameras stayed trained on the girl as she paced along, until she ran into Hoshi, who wore body armor that appeared to be reflective, the boy with the literal blinding smile. But, before Hoshi could take off his mouth-mask and impair Imari's vision, a long vine flew from a pore on her arm that completely wrapped around Hoshi, leaving him immobilized and unable to take his mask off,

"What!" Hoshi mumbled through mask.

Imari Hanakai

Quirk: Nature

Her quirk allows her to rapidly grow seeds from the pores in her body and manipulate them. The plant she creates varies on the seeds she eats. For example, if she eats rose seeds, she can only grow roses, but if she eats multiple seeds at once she can grow several different plants at random. She can even create fruits and vegetables through this method. Her quirk also allows her to manipulate the plant life that comes from her body, such as using the vines, roots, and branches to snare opponents or catch allies.

Imari gave Hoshi a cold glare, unintended or not, and once again ran off,

"Wow." Ichiro commented. The screens image now showed Shiro strode forward, wearing a simple black puffy jacket with dark yellow stripes running down the sleeves and a hood with light grey fur. Beneath the coat was a simple white shirt, tucked into dark green, camo pants and combat boots. A completely calm face was slightly hidden by his spiky, dark blue hair. He came across two combatants: Ken, who was clad in metal once again, and the girl with horns known as Kaida,

"You have a metal form, easier for me." She pointed out, determinedly. She puffed her chest up, and her light blue shirt with a pink scale pattern, and her blue cape, held on by pins, shook slightly. Then, Kaida began blowing fire from her mouth that made the metal of Ken's skin go red. He grimaced,

"So, hot." He blurted, before collapsing on one knee, his quirk deactivating, then he finally collapsed.

Kaida Tatsuma

Quirk: Dragon Fire

Kaida can breathe out powerful hot pink fire that's strong enough to melt through steel!

"Unlucky Ken." Ichiro sympathized as his only proper friend in the class as of that moment fell. Victorious, Kaida turned to encounter Shiro, who had been observing the battle,

"I'm gonna be the one to win this." She declared, confidently,

"We'll see about that." Shiro replied, and he snapped his fingers. Blue aura swirled around him and began forming a shape until he was surrounded by a humanoid figure. It was just the upper half of a masculine body, yet it stood at about ten feet tall. The body had arms and hands and appeared muscular, but lacked any actual depth and tone, and was instead slightly transparent, revealing Shiro standing in the center of it. The creatures head was the shape of an average man's, however much larger, and lacking any features except for it's glowing white eyes,

"Awesome!" Kobachi shouted, raising his fist to the air eccentrically,

"What the?" Kaida stammered through the screen, stepping backwards.

Shiro Hayashi

Quirk: Avatar

He can summon a spectral avatar around himself that can be used for both offense and defense. Using the quirk for prolonged amounts of time puts strain on his body, and will cause the avatar to disappear. The avatar will also disappear if it takes too much abuse or Shiro is somehow separated from its center.

The towering, spectral being raised its large fist and hammered it downward, causing slight tremors and debris to fly in all direction. After the attack course was finished, Kaida was left restricted by the stone debris that was the floor of the maze,

"How strong is that quirk!" She moaned, "Unfair!" The spectral being dissipated into a dancing stream of blue aura that then finally disappeared. Shiro continued to make his way to the center of the maze,

"That's a really powerful quirk." Ichiro observed,

"Yeah." Kasyo agreed. The brown haired boy that Mr. Iwasaki had called Takeshi remained silent, watching the chaotic, ongoing battles. Takeshi wore a navy blue spandex suit with pant legs that went just above his knees and sleeves that fell above his elbows. The screen continued to follow Shiro as he encountered Kukiko, the girl with hair the color of pure platinum and glassy blue eyes. She didn't hesitate. Kukiko threw her right hand forward and the air in the whole room suddenly became very cold.

Kukiko Uyeda

Quirk: Blizzard

Kukiko can turn the moisture in the air into snow and hail which she can then control to attack her opponents. If there are already rain or snow clouds, or if its already snowing or raining, then the power of her quirk greatly increases.

Hail and snow hurtled down the maze corridor and began chipping at Shiro's skin, which was starting to go a ghostly pale. Alas, Shiro snapped his fingers once again and his blue avatar appeared, completely protecting him from the oncoming blizzard. Unyieldingly, Shiro trudged forward, his avatar promptly following along. The snow and hail simply flew off its chest. Just like before, the avatar attacked with its thundering fist and immobilized Kukiko. Shiro moved on and finally came into the center of the maze, where the flag was. Both Seth and Imari came from separate directions and saw the flag, but Shiro already had his hand on it. Imari kept her cold, almost emotionless glare, and Seth looked annoyed, but Shiro didn't pay much attention to either of them, just took a deep breath. After Mr. Iwasaki claimed that Shiro was the victor, the blue haired boy walked over to Seth, and held out his pale hand. Seth clasped it with his own hand, and the two nodded at each other invidiously. A staircase was present in the center of the maze that led to a pathway above the maze and back to the area Ichiro and the others were watching. Roughly a few minutes later, the rest of the students showed up who also took the staircase out. Once all the students were out, Mr. Iwasaki instructed those who were left to go to their assigned starting positions and get ready, meaning they didn't get much time for small talk ' _Ok, this is it. I'm gonna have to fight against my classmates.'_ Ichiro thought, worriedly. He came to his starting position and got ready, looking down into the maze's dark, narrow, seemingly endless corridors. The dark-haired boy did a few stretches and waited until Mr. Iwasaki's voice came on the speakers,

"Get ready." He boomed. Ichiro got into his starting position, ready to charge off at any moment,

"On your marks." A single, cold bead of sweat trickled down Ichiro's forehead.

"I can do this." Ichiro reassured himself,

"Go!" And with that, Ichiro charged off into the dark depths of the maze.

 **Thanks so much for reading. Sorry about how wordy this chapter was, but I wanted to get the descriptions out of the way so I don't have to do it all again in a future chapter. I hope you enjoyed the different characters, and the fight scenes (don't worry, they'll be more detailed in the next chapter). If your character was accepted, could you send there hero costume if you haven't already. 1B, Hero and Villain OC submissions are still open. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	11. Update

**Hey there. So recently I came down with a pretty bad illness. It's nothing too bad and I'll be fine, but I though I should let you guys know that the next chapter may not be coming out until sometime next week. Of course I could recover earlier than expected but I do doubt it. However, expect things to be back to normal once I'm better. I also wanted to give a quick thanks to all my readers, especially those who submitted OCs and have reviewed, you're support and advice has helped me to become a better writer and motivates me to carry on with this story.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	12. Chapter 11

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

The echo of Ichiro's many steps could be heard as he paced down the maze hall. Coal black walls to either side of Ichiro made the boy feel slightly claustrophobic.

"Should I use Burst Rush to go faster, or should I wait to see if I encounter someone?" Ichiro asked himself as he continued to run. Finally, he reached the end of the long, narrow maze corridor and turned to the right. He had come to the conclusion that he shouldn't hesitate about choosing which way to go, and should simply focus on traversing as fast as possible. Once again, the boy turned at a bend, however he was met with a foot, connecting with his face. Flying back into the wall, Ichiro gasped. The boy's vision went slightly blurry, and the cold stone floor on which he'd crumpled on faded in and out of sight.

"Wow, didn't mean to hit you that hard." A familiar voice chortled. Ichiro recognized the voice,

"Cora?" He groaned, and looked up to meet the beautiful blonde girl that had kicked him. Ichiro stood, "Why aren't you running off?"

"Well, Mr Iwasaki said we could team up." Cora recalled,

"Oh yeah." Ichiro said,

"Come on then we'll be able to win much easier if we're on a team right?" Cora enthused. Ichiro nodded, and the two began bounding down the maze corridors once again, yet Cora moved much faster than Ichiro,

"How are you moving so fast?" Ichiro asked, as the girl continued to get further away,

"It's my quirk." She explained, "Cat."

Cora Sangeki

Quirk: Cat

Once her quirk is activated, her movements and reflexes become similar to that of a feline, with enhanced speed, dexterity and senses

"Well, I've got to keep up." Ichiro told himself, whilst the blue sparks of Burst Rush surrounded him, and he immediately bolted forward, catching up with Cora,

"Not bad." She commended. The two slowed and came round another corner to find Shimeka. She wore a burgundy red one-piece suit with an open V-shape on her back. Her arms and legs were bare. The costume itself was decorated with cyan colored grid designs that seem almost futuristic and robotic, and a pink cropped varsity jacket rested just above her elbows; Shimeka also wore gloves and pink ankle-length, laced soldier boots. Her eyes met the pair's and she got into fighting stance,

"I'm gonna be the one to win this." She declared, radiating confidence. Both Ichiro and Cora also got into fighting stance, but Ichiro decided he would hold off on Burst Rush until he had a clear opening. Shimeka slickly placed her hands on her legs then rushed forward at supernatural speeds. Cora gracefully jumped onto the maze wall and then bounced off, landing behind Shimeka. However, Ichiro's reflexes weren't sharp enough, and all he could do was throw his arms up in the air to block. Once again, the dark haired boy flew back into the wall, except not as dazed this time. Shimeka planted her feet on the ground and turned to look at Cora. _'This is my chance!'_ Ichiro thought, and activated Burst Rush – Fifteen percent. Carefully positioning his hands, Ichiro launched himself and his fist connected nicely with Shimeka's stomach, however she was barely sent back by Ichiro's determined assault,

"What the?" Ichiro exclaimed, "I was using fifteen percent, how'd she tank it like that?"

"It was my quirk." Shimeka replied, obtusely, before rushing at Cora once again. Cora barely dodged.

Shimeka Daitan

Quirk: Trace Effect

Shimeka can scan anything and analyze the data and information that has been gathered telepathically by touching/holding onto whatever object or organic being in the blink of an eye. Once she's accessed this, by still holding/touching, she can manipulate the effectiveness of everything and anything. Allowing her to increase or decrease the potential of anything.

"My quirk allows me to increase or decrease the potential of _anything_ I touch, including myself, which is why I was able to move at such high speeds and increase my strength, and why your attack did basically nothing. I temporarily decreased the strength of your quirk." Shimeka declared, remaining on guard. ' _So when she rushed at me her intention was to decrease the strength of my quirk, not to deal any long lasting damage.'_ Ichiro concluded in his thoughts. Shimeka prepared another attack, placing her hands on her legs.

"Not this time." Ichiro said, and entered burst rush, proceeding to jump over Shimeka and landing on the same side as Cora,

"Don't let her touch you." Ichiro said to Cora, "She'll only make us weaker."

"Understood." Cora replied.

"If I can't deal damage to you in one attack, then I'll just have to do it in many." Ichiro began, "Here I go!" Blue sparks, even more intense than before, coursed around Ichiro's lean body, "Burst Rush: Blitz!" He yelled, and flashed forward, landing a punch, and sending Shimeka backwards, however Ichiro was already there and landed a kick. The boy continued to attack Shimeka then rushed to the area he sent her to, until the sparks subsided and Ichiro landed in a heap on the floor. Shimeka fell to the ground, but unfortunately stood again,

"Not bad." She commended,

"That's it I'm out." Ichiro said, then grabbed Cora's hand and bolted down the maze corridor,

"Hey, get back here!" He heard Shimeka yell from behind him. Luckily, when Ichiro turned, there were five different directions in which to go. He decided to go to the far right then took a few more lefts. At last, the pair stopped to catch a breather, but were instead met with a 'Hey you'. The panting Ichiro turned and met the brown haired boy who had challenged him the previous day,

"Lucky me." He said.

From the outside of the maze, Ken and the others watched the ongoing battles. On the board currently were Ellix and Nano, viciously duking it out. Ellix's arm had taken the shape of a hornet stinger, and he also had two pairs of hornet wings attached to his back.

Ellix Francisco Midori-Barbaros

Quirk: Bug body

As the name suggests, this Quirk allows Ellix to shift his random body parts into insect appendages (dragonfly wings, hornet stinger, tiger beetle jaws etc.). But, the drawback is that Ellix can only use more than one body part if they're from the same insect, otherwise doing hybrids would cause excruciating pain to the points.

His costume consisted of a pair of red overalls over, a white jumpsuit and a pair of black gauntlets and boots. In comparison to the many other costumes, it was strikingly simple. Opposing him was Nano, and her arm, like Ellix, was also very different from the norm, being a decent sized cylinder with a long rod tipped with a spear point running through it; the entire thing was platinum aside from the spear point, which was green.

Nano Todoroki

Quirk: Tech Body

Nano has nanites bonded to her on a molecular level that she can control at will, allowing her to generate various machinery and weapons from her body as well as to communicate with machines.

The two furrowed their brows, and began running at each other, however, Nano moved much slower, as she had a mechanical spear attached to her arm. A loud clang could be heard as the tips of the spear and stinger collided. Both Nano and Ellix were pushing as hard as they could whilst the screeching of the two bizarre weapons continued. At last, Nano gave way and skidded backwards; her grunt could be heard from the screen. Ken occupied himself with his own thoughts ' _I wonder how Ichiro's doing._ '

"I'm glad we'll get to go toe to toe. I'm Takeshi Sayiki by the way." The brown haired boy declared, a spiteful hint to his voice. He wore a white combat jacket with the zip done up to just above his chest, green, baggy, camo trousers and combat boots; he also wore metal colored bracers on his arms. "I've been dying to test myself against the guy who came first in the exam. I hope you'll be as amazing as everyone says you are."

"Look, there's no need to compare yourself to me," Ichiro began, "All you need to do is-" But Takeshi had already jumped forward, three long, slightly curved claws the color of steel grew from the back of each of his hands. With his claws, the brooding student slashed whilst Ichiro took a long step back. The tip of the claws connected with Ichiro's flushed cheeks and the boys own blood flew before his eyes just as it did when he battled the rhino villain roughly a month prior. Takeshi landed then immediately jumped back down the maze corridor, lit only by dim lights above, and avoiding any possible counterattack from Ichiro.

"So what do you think of my quirk?" Takeshi gloated. Ichiro's cut cheek stung, but he replied anyway,

"To be honest, it's a bit underwhelming." He said,

"You…" Takeshi stammered. Then, completely unexpectedly, he laughed, but that was swiftly replaced with a fierce grow. Dark hair began to grow all over his body, and his legs became long and slender, whilst his back became slightly hunched. Takeshi's brown eyes went to a crimson shade of red; he grew sharp teeth and a snout. He had completely taken the form of a werewolf, his clothes ripped and torn in most places.

Takeshi Sayiki

Quirk: Werewolf

Not only does he have naturally sharp senses and the ability to grow sharp claws from his hands, Takeshi can completely morph into a wolf, becoming faster, stronger, and much more vicious.

"How about now?" Takeshi growled, slightly slobbering,

"Still not impressed." Ichiro taunted. ' _Good, I'll agitate him and he'll lash out at me, then I'll launch a counterattack.'_ Ichiro thought. The dark haired boy turned to Cora, a determined sparkle in his dark eyes,

"Go, get to the center." He said,

"But, you heard what Mr. Iwasaki said, only one person can win." Cora reminded,

"Yeah I know, but I'd rather have someone I teamed up with win than someone who was consistently my enemy, which is everyone right now." Ichiro declared, heroically. In the spectator area, as the students watched the confrontation on the screen, Mr. Iwasaki smiled.

"Fine then." Cora scowled, her cheeks flushing red, "Thanks." She then ran off at high speeds,

"Just me and you now." The werewolf said, grimacing. Ichiro nodded,

"Come on then."

On the expansive screen, both Kasyo and Hajime stood before each other. Ken watched the conflict zealously. Hajime's costume was composed of camouflage pants, black steel-toed combat boots, a black shirt that was long sleeved on its left side and comes down to his robotic arm on his right, as well as a World War II Style helmet, which brandished an ace of spades. Hajime took a step down the narrow maze corridor; he smiled, and his robotic arm began sparking, then, the metallic look of it spread across his whole body. Once the seeming 'transformation' was completed, he looked widely the same, except for the fact that his 'skin' was now that of his arm: a dark metal alloy, only covered by another layer of metal, armoring the chassis. Hajime's head was now rectangular, with slants along the side, and his eyes were now replaced with, what appeared to be, sensors that glowed with an eerie red.

"Here I go!" He yelled, as a large, three-barrel Gatling gun folded out of his bulky arm.

Hajime Sugiyama

Quirk: War Machine

When activated, Hajime's body transforms from his normal human state to a robotic form (transformation begins at his robotic arm and spreads to the rest of his body, this process takes 5-10 seconds). His robotic form resembles his normal body, though it is, of course, completely made out of metal (the same material that his arm is made of) without a layer of metal that represents what would be his skin in his regular form. Instead, his mechanical parts are exposed other than being covered by a series of armored plates covering the entirety of his chassis.

Kasyo looked stunned in his costume, which consisted of a black heat resistant jumpsuit with grey combat boots. He also sported shoulder and arm armor, and the scarf in which he had previously worn was split in two and wrapped around his forearms. Kasyo also wore a metal facemask that was connected to exhaust pipes on his back. The gun began firing, but instead of bullets, a dark purple gas came from the barrels.

"I can't use bullets, so I have to use this nerve gas that'll knock you out." Hajime said, as the gas enveloped the space before him. Kasyo took a step forward,

"Thank god for my mask." He chuckled, tapping its surface, "Here I go!" Kasyo rushed forward, hands in front of him. Sluggishly, Hajime raised his hands, however his robot form was a tax on his mobility. Kasyo's hand latched on to Hajime's arm, and the palm of the boy's hand glowed red. Hajime's metal arm followed suite, as it began to glow red from the intense amount of heat coming from the boy's hand.

Kasyo Aizawa

Quirk: Melting Touch

Kasyo´s hands can heat up to extreme temperatures. Allowing him to melt through practically any material. Kasyo does have control over how hot his hands can get. Due to the nature of the quirk, Kasyo´s mouth is used as an exhaust, which usually displays smoke. If his breathing cannot keep up with the temperature, he will suffer from an asthma attack. So the temperature is usually kept to the heat of a blowtorch.

Hajime howled in pain as he pulled away, kicking with his powerful metal leg, although Kasyo did an impressive backflip to dodge it. Ken had no clue which student was going to win. Ken could see, from the map of the maze on the board, that everyone was getting increasingly close to the center. The image on the screen changed to show Kobachi yelling,

"SPICY STINGER!" His right arm extended, then de-extended hammering the opponent concealed by the blur that were Kobachi's fists.

Kobachi Komushi

Quirk: Extend

Upon activation, Kobachi is able to lengthen and extend any part of his own body! When he lengthens something, it seems to gain a hard rubber-like durability however overuse will lead to the user muscles becoming extremely sore and possible torn if used without rest.

Kobachi's costume seemed to be an everyday outfit as it consisted of an over-sized light blue t-shirt with a big white star design in the middle, as well as a light green beanie siting idly on his head, ruffling his blonde hair. The short boy also sported grey sweatpants, and gold and black high top sneakers. Once Kobachi's attack ended, his opponent was revealed, it was Takashi, the lanky blonde boy that sat in front of Ichiro. Takashi wore a teal blue body suit with a lizard scale like exterior, with gray around the sleeves with a purple trim. The lower exterior was all black, excluding his white running shoes. He also had a black-visored helmet that barely showed his dark eyes.

"Too bad there's so many twists and turns in this maze, or my caffeine rush quirk would have got me the victory awhile ago."

Takashi Inuzuka

Quirk: Caffeine Rush

Takashi's speed increases by 0.1 Machs for every five grams of caffeine he consumes. One cup of coffee would already have him reaching mach 2. His speed is enhanced to the point time is moving at slow motion. However, his speed doesn't last long as his metabolism burns at a high rate. He burns one gram of caffeine every thirty seconds while his quirk is active. Once every bit of caffeine is out of his system while running, he goes into a complete crash and will fall asleep on the spot. He'd have to continually drink caffeine to maintain his speed, however because of his hyper metabolism, he has to eat large quantities (about 30,000 calories) of food before he runs or else he'll pass out mid run from low blood glucose. Furthermore, if he stops suddenly while moving fast, he suffers from whiplash.

"If I crash, I'll probably really hurt myself." Takashi explained, "Pity. Let's have a good fight anyway." He enthused. Kobachi grinned and their battle continued.

Takeshi had begun moving at astonishing speeds, and, combined with the narrow areas in which they were fighting in, it was incredibly difficult to dodge. It had been roughly thirty seconds, yet Ichiro had no time to catch his breath. Takeshi, who was now high in the air, slashed once again; Ichiro used his iron gauntlets to block the slash and kicked Takeshi in the stomach. Since the wolf-boy was still in the air, his body went flailing backwards, a decent distance away from Ichiro. ' _All right now's my chance._ ' Ichiro thought,

"It's getting hard for you to keep up isn't it?" Takeshi sniggered, "You look tired, maybe you should just give up."

"I'm not tired." Ichiro said, "I'm just getting started." He put his foot back, however Takeshi had already launched himself at Ichiro, baring his terrifying fangs. ' _Dammit!_ ' Ichiro thought ' _He's moving too quickly._ ' Ichiro guarded, although Takeshi noticed this, and raised his leg high in the air, hammering it down on Ichiro's head, sending him to the ground, viciously.

"Is that all you've got?" Takeshi bellowed. Ichiro didn't budge. "All right then." Takeshi panted, catching a breath. He turned, and deactivated his wolf transformation, the hair seemed to decrease in size, turning into normal, almost unnoticeable hairs all across the boy's body; the snout also morphed back into a nose along with all of the other transformed features. The, now normal human boy, began running forward, however, just before he reached the bend, Takeshi felt a fist connect with his face. The boy's whole body turned on its side as the punch continued, whilst spittle flew form Takeshi's mouth. The punch had come from Ichiro, using Burst Rush, and his iron gauntlets. Takeshi was sent hurtling into the maze wall, his back connecting with it, oddly satisfyingly. The student crumpled into a heap on the floor,

"Y-you tricked me!" He shouted, lividly, "You made it seem like you were knocked out, then you got a surprise attack on me! That's not very heroic, is it?" Ichiro stopped and turned to face Takeshi,

"It's just like Mr. Iwasaki said, sometimes, as a hero, you have to do things that aren't necessarily heroic in order to do what's right." He replied, effulgently. Takeshi scowled, and began to stand up, although Ichiro wasn't going to waste anymore time, so he began charging off getting a head start on Takeshi.

"I've already wasted so much time, but I might be able to reach the center." Ichiro murmured under his breath. He took a left, then a right, then another right, then a left, then one more right until he arrived at an area that seemed to circle round the center. Ichiro traipsed round its outside, and picked up the pace when he heard multiple pairs of footsteps behind him. At last, the aspiring hero found the entrance to the center and laid his eyes on the flag … that Cora was leaning on. Takeshi rushed into the room,

"I did it!" He yelled, before his mouth opened wide at the realization that he wasn't even close,

"Hey boys." Cora taunted, and slightly chuckled. Ichiro hid a smile, while Takeshi grumbled to himself. Eventually, everyone arrived in the center, all within about ten or twenty seconds of one another. Shimeka came, then Kasyo, then Ellix, then Nano, then Kobachi, then Takashi, then finally Hajime, as his metal transformation significantly slowed him down. With Cora enthralled from her victory, all ten students walked over to the spectator area to meet their classmates.

"Good job Cora, first." Yasuo commented,

"Thanks." Cora replied. She turned over to Ichiro and nodded. Ichiro did the same.

"Not bad, you came second." Ken pointed out, patting Ichiro on the back. Takeshi looked glum, standing by himself. Ichiro strolled over to him,

"Hey, that was a good battle, you probably would've beat me if I didn't use that tactic." Ichiro said, calmly, holding out his hand,

"Thanks." Takeshi replied, suppressing a smile, he shook Ichiro's hand,

"We'll get a proper match someday."

"Yeah."

"Well done everyone, that was pretty good for your first exercise, and can we have a round of applause for our two winners Cora and Shiro." Mr. Iwasaki instructed. The class broke into an out-of-time, rather half-hearted applause. "I also want to commend Ichiro. During his bout with Takeshi he displayed one of the things I wanted to see from this assessment. Of course the goal of this exercise was to come out on top, but it was also to acknowledge teamwork, and self-sacrifice. Ichiro and Cora were the only two that teamed up, and, even though Ichiro knew that, by letting Cora go and win, he would not win himself, he acknowledged that it would still be his teammate winning. He, in a way, sacrificed himself to let his teammate carry on, and that is one of the key components of a hero. Well done Ichiro." Mr. Iwasaki nodded at the boy, and his eyes slightly lit up.

"Thank you sir." Ichiro replied. Kobachi raised his hand and began speaking,

"So sir what's next?" Mr. Iwasaki opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped by a rumbling from pocket. Slightly annoyed, the Pro took his phone from his pocket and turned the screen on. His eyes opened wide,

"You will have no further training exercises today." He concluded,

"But there's still about an hour and a half left until the end of the day." Yasuo moaned. Many sounds of agreement came from the students,

"Something has come up." Mr. Iwasaki replied, sternly,

"Return to the 1A classroom. A supply will be along shortly." And with that Mr. Iwasaki turned from the class and ran at alarming speeds toward the exit.

 **Thanks so much for reading. I hope I'm doing your characters justice, just let me know if I'm doing anything wrong or you want to change something about them like their backstory. I also hope you guys are enjoying the fight scenes, as well as the dialogue. If your character was accepted, could you send their hero costume if you haven't already. 1B, Hero and Villain OC submissions are still open. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	13. Chapter 12

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

There was an hour and a half left of school. Ichiro sat in his seat, insatiably bored, and wondering why Mr Iwasaki had simply cut their lesson short. Little chatter could be heard in the classroom, yet the silence seemed deafening. Superstitious thoughts clouded the boy's mind,

"Why do you think Mr Iwasaki just left like that?" He said, turning to face Cora, who was idly twiddling her thumbs. The blonde girl turned and her crystal blue eyes opened wide,

"Not sure, probably important hero business." She yawned, sitting back in her chair.

"Maybe there was a villain attack." Kobachi theorised. Sounds of agreement came from the class,

"It had to be something important for him to abandon his duties as a teacher, considering he seems pretty dedicated to the job." Seth pointed out. Once Mr Iwasaki had abruptly left in the middle of 1A's hero training, they had been instructed to get changed and return to class. Now they all sat in their uniforms, waiting for any form of information regarding the situation.

"We should try and find out what happened." Suna said, curiously, keeping a straight face,

"And how do you propose we do that?" Kukiko asked,

"We could check the internet." Hajime said, "I'll use my quirk, since it basically makes my brain a computer." Hajime seemingly proceeded to activate his quirk (War Machine) and must've scanned the Internet because his jaw dropped roughly thirty seconds after he began,

"What happened?" Shiro queried, a stern look on his face,

"Yeah." The class added in unison,

"According to the news, a group of villains launched an attack on the government archive building, and defeated the main line of security. Mr Iwasaki is apparently confronting them right now!" Hajime exclaimed, clearly stunned,

"What?" Ichiro shouted, "These guys must be serious." He said, in a much more hushed tone, recalling his mortifying experience with the Rhino-villain, "No, they have to be even more serious than he was." The boy murmured, becoming increasingly worried.

"I want to see this for myself." Shimeka said, reaching searching through her leather Disney princess bag that sat next to her legs on the floor. Shimeka wore a black, zipped up hoodie under her uniform, as well as loosely tied tie, instead of the normal bow that female students mostly wore. Shimeka brought a phone out of the bag, and switched it on,

"You shouldn't have that in school." Imari commented, bluntly, her pupil-less eyes making her seem even colder.

"There aren't any teachers around, lighten up." She replied, care-freely, and began skimming the Internet, " I found the live news broadcast!" She yelled, perhaps too loudly, and everyone in the class came flocking towards her desk, all trying to get a good look at the situation. A reporter sat in a news helicopter, sweating fulsomely, a microphone held between his hands,

"Reinforcements are currently on route to the area, as Earth Bender is currently fighting these villains alone!" The man cried,

"Mr Iwasaki's in trouble!" Kado yelled, worriedly,

"There's no way a pro hero like him could ever lose to a bunch of stupid villains." Kaida reassured, serenely, "He'll be fine, this is his job after all." Multiple nods came from members of the class. Ichiro was now seriously worried. ' _Could these villains be related to the one that… no it can't be'_ He told himself, continuing to watch the situation unfold on the phone screen. The camera turned from the reporter and faced downwards. There was a substantial hole in the ceiling of the building, and through it five masculine figures were visible. Four figures surrounded one man, who appeared to be Mr Iwasaki,

"How could only four villains break through government defences?" Shiro uttered, placing a hand on his head, "These guys must be serious."

"Agreed." Ichiro said. On the screen, the helicopter appeared to lower; it now hovered very close to the hole in the ceiling, and the action was clearly present. A startlingly tall man with the head of a dog, a man wearing a black suit and a fedora, a relatively lanky blonde man wearing a black tracksuit, and a man brandishing a black bodysuit with purple accents, complete with dark, metallic shoulder plates, leg plates, and boots, surrounded Mr Iwasaki, clad in his usual hero outfit, although the brown body warmer was now unzipped, and slightly ripped in places. Multiple pieces of rock lay on the ground beside them, most likely destroyed parts of Mr Iwasaki's earth attacks. The armour clad villain pulled two daggers from his belt, dripping with purple liquid. He rushed forward at alarming speeds, but a stonewall was thrown up, protecting the hero from a possibly fatal attack. The camera turned to the reporter once again,

"Many heroes as well as the police force are occupied with multiple smaller crimes all around the city, which is why it's taking so long for help to arrive." The reporter explained,

"This was planned." Seth murmured. Everyone turned to face him, "This must be the work of some sort of villain organization. They send out grunts to start ruckus and scatter forces, then the main group attacks without too much resistance in the way." The class seemed surprised at Seth's intelligent analysis of the situation,

"I was thinking the same thing." Ichiro said, deep in his own thoughts, "These people have to be serious, to pull of a stunt like this." The screen now showed the dog man punch one of Mr Iwasaki's defences, which cracked, and sent the Pro slightly backwards. Once again, the dog headed villain closed in, the word _DIESEL_ showing on the back of his heavy-duty vest. Earth bender gracefully dodged the villains sluggish movements, and countered with a sharp, stone precipice that slit the villains arm,

"That was pretty spicy!" Kobachi enthused,

"That's starting to get annoying." Hoshi mumbled through his facemask, however Kobachi didn't respond, so he either didn't hear or didn't care. The slender man on the screen appeared behind Mr Iwasaki and pushed him forward into the fist of the dog-man; the hero's body was sent hurtling back,

"It appears as though Earth Bender is struggling with the villains!" The reporter exclaimed,

"Mr Iwasaki's in … trouble!" Ichiro stuttered, "And there's no one to help him." Silence came from the class. Ichiro stood, rather reluctantly,

"We've go to help him."

"That's absurd." Ellix argued, "Do you really think you'll make a difference?"

"Do you really think any of us will make a difference by just waiting here, watching our teacher in danger." Ichiro bellowed, furiously. There was no reply from the class, some seem afraid, and some seemed simply stunned,

"We came to UA to be heroes, so we should acting like ones." And with that, Ichiro swiftly threw his blazer onto the back of his chair and went running out the classroom.

Everyone was left stunned that Ichiro had simply left the room to go help their teacher,

"He's right." Seth said, calmly, standing up, "This is the man who's teaching us, and is protecting the lives of many, we've go to help." Seth followed suite, and left the room. Ellix grunted softly, and then did the same. Many followed. Next was Shiro, then Ken and finally Shimeka. The rest of the class was left speechless, wondering what they should do other than watch the action on the phone that Shimeka had left behind.

* * *

Ichiro had reached the gate, and had realised his first roadblock. Luckily, the government archive building was visible in the distance, and wasn't too faraway, although the gate was now in the boy's way.

"Hey Ichiro!" Ichiro turned to see a variety of people from his class,

"Having trouble getting through the gate?" Shimeka asked, "I'll help." She declared, confidently, and then placed her hand on the metal gate. Nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, an alarm rang throughout the school,

"Quick, push it!" She instructed, fiercely. Ichiro did just that, and, surprisingly, the great metal gate swung wide open,

"Come on." Ichiro yelled. His ragtag group followed him out of the school campus and onto the bare roads, where little cars seemed to be,

"How'd you do that?" Ichiro asked, turning to face Shimeka during his stride,

"Structural weakening, it's an ability my quirk gives me to weaken the structural strength of anything I touch, kinda similar to how I weakened your quirk when we fought." The girl replied, not facing to look at Ichiro. The six students continued running at high speeds,

"So Ichiro, what exactly do you have planned?" Ellix called, a hint of frustration in his voice,

"Uh." Ichiro muttered, "We'll distract the villains and give Mr Iwasaki time to counter or escape, then we'll go from there." There wasn't a response from the group, "Just so you know guys, we could die here." Ichiro informed,

"Then why are you suddenly so willing to throw it away?" Shiro queried, coldly,

"Mr Iwasaki saved my life, and he's saved quite a few others too. It seems only fair that I save him, besides, what type of hero would I be if I didn't help?" Silence again. Ichiro swiftly craned his neck, and saw that everyone was quiet, and Seth looked down at the ground, as if he didn't want to make eye contact with Ichiro.

"We're getting closer." Shimeka reminded. The group had been running for about ten minutes now. Ichiro was glad he'd done all that intensive training now. The archive building was at the end of the long main road; a few stray police cars were parked on the road, and no civilians could be seen. Once they reached the building, they all stopped to take a breath. The news helicopter still hovered above,

"Don't do anything stupid on there." Shiro said, "Stick together." Everyone nodded in agreement. Slight rain began drizzling on the large cubic building, and the group entered through the cracked glass doors.

* * *

The inside was a mess. Broken glass, furniture and many other things littered the carpeted ground. Beyond the reception area was an expansive atrium, filled with trashed desks and computer. One monitor was left, the power on. On the left and right side of the atrium were staircases leading to further rooms, and on the wall opposite to the entrance was an open double door. The whole room was deathly quiet. Ichiro nodded to the group and the trekked through the atrium toward the door, but about halfway through, Ken let out a deafening scream,

"What's wrong?" Ichiro asked, in a furious whisper. The boy went a ghostly pale and pointed downwards. On the floor was the body of an armed forces member, wearing a vest with the words _Government Archives_ on it. Blood dripped from the mans mouth, although there didn't seem to be any wound or attacked area,

"Is he breathing?" Ichiro squeaked. Seth knelt down and looked for a pulse, but found none,

"He's dead." Seth concluded. At this point, the young students had realised the impending gravity of the situation. These villains meant business. Ichiro wanted to go back to the Children's home. He wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. He wanted to escape it all. But, he remembered his vow: to protect those he cared for, and to change Hero society for the better,

"Come on." He said, attempting to leave any hint of fear in his voice behind. The six continued onwards. None of them decided to look left or right after that, as they guessed there were many more bodies lying there. They went through the door and came into another room. The whole in the ceiling allowed the dull light of the day to shine through. Shelves filled with both paper and digital information lined the room. It looked like a dense library – the only notable space being the centre, where Mr Iwasaki was painstakingly fending off the four villains that had been seen on the news back in the classroom. Mr Iwasaki saw the group and stopped, threw up a huge expanding stonewall that pushed all the villains backward, then rushed toward them,

"What the hell are you doing here? Kanzagi, are you trying to get yourself killed?" He shouted, lividly. Cuts and bruises lined the hero's athletic body; he looked as though he could collapse any second,

"We saw that you were in trouble sir, and we knew that it would take awhile for reinforcements to reach you, so we decided to come and help. I think you'll need it." Ichiro expressed,

"I appreciate the heroic gesture all of you, but I cannot put the lives of my students at danger." The man said, valiantly,

"But sir-" Ken interjected, his fists at the ready,

"If you guys want to help, then stay back, and give me a hand when I need it, understood?"

"Sir." Ichiro murmured,

"Understood?" The Pro yelled, infuriated. The six nodded, and Mr Iwasaki turned to face the villains, who had now broken through his defence. The armoured man wearing the bodysuit turned to his subordinates,

"Danghi, Damnation, Milluki deal with the children. I'll take care of Earth Bender." He snarled, in a calm, hushed, but vicious tone.

"Second plan, avoid the villains, and try to lose them. I'm not going to be able to protect all of you. Don't directly engage them in combat. These guys are dangerous. The six obliged. Ichiro and Ellix ran left then forward, whilst Shimeka and Shiro ran left and left again, and Ken and Seth turned right. Mr Iwasaki then created earth walls at the corridors the students went down in order to hinder the villain's progress.

* * *

Ichiro and Ellix stopped when they reached the end of the archive corridor. The only option they had was to go left or to stay where they were,

"We have to avoid the villains." Ichiro said, determinedly, "But try to keep them away from Sir, that way he'll be able to take out their leader."

"Understood." Ellix nodded. The two then walked down the corridor at a fast pace, hoping that everything would work out fine. Hollow footsteps could be heard coming from the direction the two were running in, and the tracksuit wearing, slender, blonde man came face to face with the pair,

"That was easier than expected, all right then." The man chuckled, nefariously, "Make this easy so I can get paid."

* * *

Shiro and Shimeka sprinted past a bend and faced a long hall of shelves filled with archives,

"We need to keep moving." Shiro said, as the two continued running, "Strike when they least expect it."

"Ok then, I think –" Although she was interrupted by the juggernaut dog-man arriving behind them. Shiro cursed, then shouted over to Shimeka,

"Stay close!" Shiro then activated his spectral avatar, which once again gracefully stood, it's blue aura giving unnatural light to the previously dark area. The being enveloped both Shiro and Shimeka,

"Flashy quirk." The villain commended, "It's nothing personal kids, but I have my reasons." He spoke in a quiet, seemingly remorseful tone. Sluggishly, the dog-man began moving forward.

"He's slow, we should use that to our advantage." Shimeka analysed. Shiro nodded, then used his ten foot spectral warrior's arm to reach out and attack the villain from a distance, although he simply guarded and pushed the large hands away, to both Shiro and Shimeka's dismay. The villain's punch connected with the avatar, and its body immediately cracked and dissipated, leaving only a defenceless Shiro and surprised Shimeka. Shiro collapsed from exhaustion, having his avatar destroyed took a large sum of stamina from him,

"Dammit!" Shimeka cursed, then placed her hands on her thighs, grabbed Shiro's shirt and jumped to the side to avoid the next attack,

"Close one." Shimeka uttered.

* * *

"I can hear someone coming." Ken whispered. Both he and Seth were crouched next to a shelf, listening for any movement,

"I'm not sure which one it is." Seth said, warily, "And I'm not sure of their quirks either." A high-pitched whistle came from the other side of the shelf, and Seth saw the man dressed like the gangster, fedora and all, "It's the gangster wannabe." Seth informed, "Prepare yourself."

"Come on, this'll be a lot less painful if you just show yourselves." He snickered, although his voice sounded formal and graceful. Ken touched the cement walls of the room, and his skin became a dark-grey.

"Ready." He whispered,

"Let's go then." Seth said. The pair crept forward then turned left to face the villain. His eyes were wide open, with a bloodthirsty gaze that sent shivers down the boys' spines,

"Time's up." He chuckled, in a mocking, sadistically playful voice, and then drew a rusty dagger from a pocket on his coat.

"All three of the others are being powered up by my contracts, but that doesn't mean I don't get to have any … _fun_." The emphasis on the last word was bone chillingly vicious. He pressed forward and slashed at Seth, most likely aware that Ken's skin would protect him from most attack. Luckily, Seth dodged, although the slash ripped his shirt, barely missing the skin. Then, at rapid speeds, Seth kicked the villain in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards, grunting.

"Seth, I'll take the forefront. He shouldn't be able to much damage to me like this." Ken said, confidently, referencing his cemented skin. The three prepared for another clash.

* * *

Nothing seemed to be working. Ellix and Ichiro had both attacked with the full intensity of their quirks, Ellix using a variety of bug appendages like tiger beetle jaws and hornet stingers, whilst Ichiro used Burst Rush: Fifteen Percent. The villain seemed completely unaffected by the attacks, and then would attack with the exact same intensity of the previous attack.

"If you couldn't tell already, my quirk allows me to absorb your attacks, and fire the force of your back right back at you." He explained,

"That's what I thought." Ellix affirmed,

"Well, if that's the case, then there has to be a limit to it." Ichiro deduced,

"What do you mean?" Ellix said,

"Well I doubt he'd be able to absorb a nuclear bomb and then immediately throw the force of it back at someone else."

"And your point is?" Ellix slurred the last words,

"We might be able to reach that limit and deal some proper damage." Ichiro declared,

"He's brushing all of our attacks off like nothing, we should look for another way." Ellix said looking worried that Ichiro might do something stupid. ' _There has to be a limit._ ' He thought ' _I just have to find it._ ' Ichiro looked to the scar on his finger where he had first used One For All,

"Sorry Mr Midoriya Sir, but I'm gonna have to go against what you told me. Ellix, stay back." Ichiro said, the signature determined glint appearing in his eye,

"What are you gonna do?" Ellix yelled, although Ichiro had already rushed forward and was preparing a punch. Glowing red veins coursed up his arm, whilst effulgent gold light emanated from the arm itself,

"One For All." He whispered,

"One Hundred Percent." Ichiro threw his arm backwards,

"TOKYO SMASH!" He bellowed, with all his might. The boy's right arm made clear connection with the significantly more worried villain, and a huge gust of wind knocked down the many shelves in the large room, as well as causing a small crater in the ground and some of the ceiling lights to fall to the ground with a smash. Once the dust had cleared, it revealed an Ichiro, whose right arm was now purple with bruises,

"Did you do it?" Ellix exclaimed hopefully. Ichiro winced in pain, and then looked forward to the silhouette of the villain. He emerged from the dust, without a scratch.

"You took a big risk there, kid, too bad the odds weren't in your favour." The villain jumped toward Ellix and punched, using the full force of Ichiro's One Hundred Percent Smash. Ellix's mouth opened wide, his pupils appeared to fade into oblivion, and he vomited, then collapsed on the ground, taking shallow breathes.

"Now." The villain began, calmly,

"You're next."

* * *

Both Shen (Earth Bender) and the villain that opposed him were beginning to get dreadfully tired. The two panted heavily after every attack and block or attack and counterattack. The villain, using his poison related quirk, would add liquid poison to his weapons then either throw or slash with them. Shen would bring up an earth wall or simply dodge using his almost masterful dexterity, but the villain was getting increasingly closer to landing a hit, and just one would kill Shen.

"I'll give you one thing, you're even better than I anticipated." The poison villain addressed, "I've never had such a challenge, and I've been taught by the very best." Those last words stuck with Shen, what did he mean by the best?

"Well, you're one of the strongest enemies I've ever faced, too." Shen decided,

"Not _the_ best. I'm wounded." The villain chortled, diabolically. Shen was attempting to stall for time. He now had six students to worry about too. Reinforcements were desperately needed. ' _I'll give the kids one thing, if they hadn't shown up, I'd probably be dead.'_ Shen thought, ' _But it'll all be pointless if they die._ '

The villain once again rushed towards Shen, and the repetitive action of attack, block resumed.

* * *

Ichiro attempted to focus, but the pain from his broken arm was immense, what was he thinking?

"I'm sorry Ellix." He squealed, no response came from the boy except for a deep groan,

"Don't worry, you'll be just like your friend soon." The villain pronounced,

"I'll have to take another gambit. It's the only way I'll have a chance of winning." Ichiro concluded, "If it doesn't work then …" Although he stopped himself before he could think about it any longer, "Here I go." He said, mostly to himself. The glowing red veins coursed up his left arm this time, and he punched the villain once again. Just as it had before, chaos ensued, but, alas, to no good outcome. The villain stood firmly, not a scratch on his body. Aggressively, the villain clutched Ichiro's mangled, broken left arm and held him up so they were head to head,

"It just isn't your day today is it?" The villain teased, cruelly. Ichiro howled in unimaginable pain, "And, just to put the cherry on top, I do have an absorption limit, and you almost reached it, another attack would've broken through." He chuckled,

"That's all I needed to hear." Ichiro muttered, and the power of One For All enveloped his broken right arm,

"No way. That's impossible." The villain screamed, "No way!"

"One For All: One Hundred Percent." Ichiro whispered, boldly, "TOKYO SMASH!" The punch connected directly with the villains face, and this time, he felt it. The slender blonde man was sent flying like a ragdoll through multiple shelves until he reached the centre, where Mr Iwasaki and the villain leader were still duking it out.

"Idiot." The leader mouthed. Right on cue, sirens could be heard outside. The leader said a multitude of curse words then spoke into his earpiece,

"Danghi, Requi, we're going. Forget the children." He instructed, clearly infuriated." Both the dogman and the suit-wearing villain came to their leader's side,

"It's been fun, Earth Bender, but we've go to go." The leader pulled a dart from his belt, smothered it in poison using his quirk, and then threw it at the collapsed blonde man's neck. It was going to be a swift and painful death for him. An irritated look on his face, the suit-wearing villain placed his hands on his comrades and, in a puff of smoke, they disappeared, leaving a trail of flames behind. Multiple Pro heroes burst into the room, along with armed police. Ichiro also saw Shiro and Shimeka, as well as Seth and Ken emerge from different corners of the devastated room, although the images were hazy; he had used One For All's full power on his right arm twice, and was feeling the consequences. The boy's knees buckled, and he blacked out.

* * *

"That didn't go according to plan." Tadashi grunted in the car, which was being driven by a getaway driver, part of the organization.

"How the hell did you teleport us out of there anyway." Danghi asked, scratching his dog head,

"In addition to allowing me to make contracts with people, my quirk also allows me to teleport to known areas within a certain distance." Requi (Damnation) explained.

Villain: Damnation

Quirk: Damnation

Requi's quirk allows him to make contracts with people, which can enhance abilities or do other, sometimes reality-defying, things, although, it requires the person making the contract to agree with him on all the terms. Damnation also allows the user to teleport to landmarks the person has been before with some mental strain.

"What about you, how do you hit so powerfully, Danghi?" Requi asked, barely tolerating the man's presence,

"My quirk's called Locomotive."

Villain: Danghi Yuma

Quirk: Locomotive

This quirk gives Danghi the ability to charge, tackle, kick and punch with the power and agility that can be compared to a train moving at full speed. This quirk allows him to have increased durability and have a very high advantage in close ranged combat with the strength that's capable of breaking through stone walls and steamrolling cars with ease. However, in order to keep this power from ultimately killing him, he must constantly strengthen his body each and every single day in order for his body to handle the impact.

"How about you, captain." Requi said facing the man sitting in the front. Tadashi had taken off his armor now, leaving only the combat suit. He turned to face his two subordinates; the man's face was covered in scratches.

"Mine's called intoxicate." He replied, obtusely.

Villain: Intoxicate

Quirk: Intoxicate

This quirk allows Tadashi to secrete poison from his body or to produce it through his mouth. He could spit poison at the opponent, or, his favorite use of his quirk, cover his weapons in poison. Tadashi can also simply touch people with poisoned covered hands and poison them that way. Intoxicate also gives Tadashi a natural immunity to all poisons or venoms.

"So, what next?' Requi asked,

"We'll return to our main base of operations in Musutafu. We usually only use it for meetings, but you'll be staying there overnight. Then, tomorrow, you'll be assigned a branch, and be transferred to that branch, where you will take on your first proper assignment with your group." Tadashi droned on. He had given this explanation multiple times before.

"What do you mean, branches?" Danghi queried, inquisitively,

"Our group has different branches which all handle different things, that way we can stay focused. We have many different members of the organization, all who fit into a certain branch, and do a certain task in that branch, understood?" Danghi and Requi nodded and the car came to a stop. The three got out and faced a barren plot of land, sandwiched between two abandoned apartment buildings. Tadashi led the other two to a brick shed, then placed his hand on a brick, which, craftily, revealed a keypad. Tadashi punched in the code as if it was muscle memory and the door to the stone shed swung open, revealing a long winding staircase downwards. "After you." Tadashi said.

Once the trio reached the bottom of the staircase they came into a huge room with a startlingly high ceiling,

"What is this place?" Danghi said, bewildered,

"It's an old quarry that they couldn't be bothered to fill up completely, so they just put a layer of dirt over the top of it. The whole base was lit by a few dim light bulbs and candlelight, "Like I said, this is just our meeting place, you'll rarely spend any time here." Tadashi reinforced, "You should both get some rest. You've got more work tomorrow, there are rooms down the corridor, just don't go anywhere near room nine at the end of the corridor." Tadashi's last words were fiercer than the two had ever heard him speak,

"Why not?" Danghi questioned, curiously,

'Let's just say that there is a fourth person in this base, and that person is the man who killed Captain Power." Danghi's curiosity was immediately replaced by an immense amount of fear, and the same applied for Requi, who simply nodded and began walking toward the nearest room without the slightest peep.

"Can I talk to you quickly?" Danghi whispered. Tadashi nodded, despite his exhaustion,

"When … when are you gonna let my daughter and me go?" Danghi said, as if he was already pleading for their freedom,

"We'll let your daughter go once you've done substantial work, Danghi, but you, well, you've already pledged yourselves to us, and there's no going back now, especially if you want the world to change." Dread filled the man, and he had to stop himself from going on a destructive rampage,

"Is she alright?"

"She's safe, for now, but know that she won't be if you defy us."

"Two more questions." Danghi declared,

"Fine."

"What was that mission about?"

"We were looking through the archives for information on Captain Power, and if he had an apprentice or some successor of some kind, that's all I can say." Tadashi turned to walk away,

"What's … _our_ group called?" Danghi muttered,

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." Tadashi slightly chuckled, "We're called the Shadow Clan."

 **Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If your character was accepted, could you send there hero costume if you haven't already. 1B, Hero and Villain OC submissions are still open. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	14. Chapter 13

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

Ichiro awoke to the sound of beeping. His whole body felt completely numb, especially his arms. The boy lay in a bed, with his body completely submerged under the thin covers, and his head lying on a single pillow. Attempting to get up, Ichiro felt a tingling feeling in his right arm; he kicked the covers off the bed and onto the tiled floor. He sat in a hospital bed, in some sort of infirmary. Next to him was a heart rate monitor, although it wasn't connected to him. ' _Is this the UA infirmary?_ ' Ichiro thought. Ichiro recalled the events of the day, had they won? Both his arms were wrapped tightly in bandages so much that Ichiro couldn't see a speck of the damage done to them, although he was glad that was so.

"So you're awake at last." A woman said, "You know, this is the second time you've been in here, both times with broken arms." A lady in her middle ages poked her head from around the curtain isolating Ichiro from the rest of the room; her hair was a deep shade of red, and her eyes were crystal blue. The lady's skin was weathered, but with no blemishes. She gave a warm smile, "I'm recovery girl. We've actually met twice, but you were unconscious the whole time during our first meeting."

"Is this is the UA infirmary?" Ichiro queried, slightly confused,

"Yes. After the outing against the villains at the government archive building, you were returned here. You were the only one with serious injuries, so your buddies were taken somewhere else after I patched them up pretty easily using my quirk." Recovery girl explained.

Recovery Girl

Quirk: Heal

Descendant of the original recovery girl, she can use transfer her own life force to others in order to heal them. If their blood type is the same as recovery girls, the effects are greater.

"Our blood type is both B, so I was able to speed up the healing process for your arms. Although, the right one was really messed up, what happened?" Recovery girl inquired, curiously. ' _Oh yeah. I used One Hundred Percent with my right arm twice.'_ He recalled, without a hint of fondness,

"The villain I was fighting was pretty strong." Ichiro replied, stressed that he may give off the secret of One For All.

"Anyway kid, I don't think the UA staff are too happy about what you did today, they're probably dealing with your friends right now." Ichiro's heart skipped a beat, could he be expelled, on his second day! He put his head back on the pillow, trying to distract himself from the astronomical worry that had just presented itself.

"Oh crap." He murmured,

"You should probably get some rest." Recovery girl recommended, "Your body needs it." Ichiro managed a slight nod, and then cleared his mind. Roughly twenty minutes later, Recovery girl once again came through the curtain, "A woman is here to see you. How do you have connections to Hanako Midoriya?' She asked, bewildered,

"She's a family friend." Ichiro replied, a little too swiftly,

"Well, I'll give you two some alone time." Recovery girl then sauntered through the gap in the curtains and turned right toward the rest of the infirmary.

"Ichiro!" A worried voice yelled. Hanako charged through the curtain. Her dark brown hair was messy, and her eyes looked worn, "Thank god you're all right." She then hugged him tightly. Ichiro smiled,

"I'm fine honestly." He reassured,

"You really are stupid." Hanako cried, her voice changing from loving to angry then angry to sad, "You could've died."

"I know, but I wasn't gonna let a good person die. Then I'd be a fake hero, and a hypocrite."

"Why would you be a hypocrite?"

"Because, I told you that I hate heroes who do the job just for fame and money, they're fakes, so how could I judge them if I'm just like them." He declared, adamantly,

"Oh Ichiro." Hanako said, "Just because you condemn fake heroes doesn't mean you have to risk your life on the second day of school!"

"It does to me!" Ichiro exclaimed. Hanako paused, and studied the boy. He had the determined glint in his eyes once again, despite looking like he just fell out of a train.

"What am I gonna do with you." She chuckled, lightly. "No matter what happens, just promise that you'll be more careful." Ichiro wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't want to upset Hanako,

"Ok." He said,

"I'll wait for you outside, you should probably come stay at mine tonight. It's Friday, so you don't have to worry about getting to school." Ichiro nodded. "Ok, see you soon." Hanako once again put on her calm face, and left the room. Once Ichiro could no longer hear his mentor's footsteps he called for recovery girl.

"You done?" She asked,

"Yep, and I'm ready to leave."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"All right then, I'll get you into a cast and give you some painkillers, then you have to head to the principal's office." Ichiro's worry was restored, and he had to stop himself from shaking as Recovery girl put casts on both of his arms. Once she was done she helped Ichiro out of the bed,

"Good luck, Ichiro." She nodded,

"Thanks." The boy said, drily, dreading the next conversation. With both of his broken arms Ichiro exited the infirmary and took the lift up to the fifth floor, where the principals office was located.

* * *

Ichiro knocked on the double wooden door,

"Come in." A hoarse voice sounded,

"Got two broken arms here." Ichiro grumbled. Seconds later, the door opened and Ichiro was face to face with Mr Iwasaki, who was covered in bandages. His teacher nodded, slightly, then sat on a chair at the far right of the room. The principal sat behind a desk cluttered with paperwork, stationary and an old computer. Bookshelves stood behind the desk and so did paintings of the sky and ocean. Ichiro had to resist the urge to laugh at the room's innate seriousness. The principal himself was an older man, with greying hair and a slightly plump figure. His hair was slicked back with gel that shone slightly in the sunset's radiant light; the principal wore a metallic grey tweed jacket and a tie, as well as an expensive-looking watch.

"Sit down Kanzagi." The principal said. Ichiro moved toward the seat situated in front of the mahogany desk and sat down, making direct eye contact with the man,

"Your friends have been excused until further notice." He said, "Your place in this school all relies on your answers here. Now answer truthfully." The principal cleared his throat, which slightly sounded like a frog croaking,

"Did you acknowledge that you were putting your friend's lives in danger,"

"Yeah, but it's not like I forced them to come." Ichiro replied, fiercely,

"Do you regret what you did?" The principal asked,

"No. If we didn't help then Mr Iwasaki could've died."

"Can you confirm this, Mr Iwasaki?"

"Yep. I was in a bad spot, facing four powerful villains at once. I would probably be a goner if my students didn't show up." He confirmed, a hint of respect for his students in his voice.

"Interesting." The principal said, "What you did, Ichiro, goes against everything we've built as a society. You're not even permitted to do small hero work until you've acquired your license, let alone defend the government archives against a group of powerful villains possibly working for an underground organization." There was a hint of venom in the principal's voice, although Ichiro assumed it was toward the villains. "If I did, theoretically let you remain in this school, can I trust that something like this will never happen again?" Ichiro took a moment; he remembered the amount of people counting on him to become a hero, but he also he remembered his conscience. He took a deep breath,

"No… you can't." He replied, calmly. The principal was utterly stunned by Ichiro's fearlessness,

"What kind of hero am I … if I simply leave someone in trouble just because some people think it's not allowed. This is _another_ one of the reasons I don't like heroes. They condemn saving people, because why?" The principal was lost for words,

"So no. If someone is in danger and they need my help, I'm going to give it to them, end of. He declared, fiercely. Mr Iwasaki had to resist the urge to burst into applause, and he couldn't help but smile. The principal didn't know what to do.

"Mr Iwasaki, I'm going to ask for your judgment on the matter." The principal muttered,

"Ichiro, what you did was stupid, foolish and dangerous." Mr Iwasaki began, as Ichiro began to feel shameful, "But what you did was also thoughtful, heroic and brave. You've once again showed me that you have what it takes to be a hero, even if you are a bit rough around the edges." Ichiro's eyes lit up, "Sir." Mr Iwasaki said, turning to face the principal,

"I think we should keep him and his friends, they've all shown the qualities of heroes today. The principal, who had developed a slight admiration for Ichiro after his speech, sat back in his chair,

"You win again, Mr Iwasaki." He grunted, "You can remain at this school Kanzagi, "As long as you are more cautious." There it was, the question, the same one Hanako had asked him,

"Yes sir." He replied.

"All right then Kanzagi, you're excused. We'll make sure to notify your friends that they're fine as well."

"Thank you sir." Ichiro uttered. "See you on Monday, Mr Iwasaki." The Pro nodded as Ichiro left the room. The day school day was long over, so he used the lift to reach the bottom floor then walked out to the gate. He could see Hanako's limo parked on the road outside, and, of course, Haruto was driving. His mentor opened the door for him to get in,

"So, what happened?" She asked. Ichiro smiled, brightly,

"I don't know what that means, you smile when you're happy and sad Ichiro." Hanako pestered,

"I'm still in." Ichiro laughed. Hanako took a sigh of relief, closed the car door and sat back,

"Good." She said, "Well then, let's head home." The car started and thundered down the road. Suddenly, the fatigue of the day caught up with Ichiro and his eyelids began to droop. Ichiro let the wave of exhaustion hit him full force, and, for the first time since receiving One For All, drifted into a completely calm sleep.

End of Part One, Act One

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm terribly sorry for how late this one is and how short it is, but I've been swamped with exams recently and needed to put my full attention on them. Just because it's the end of Part One, Act One doesn't mean I'm taking a huge break. The next chapter will be out within the next few weeks. The reason why this chapter is so short is because it was simply the end this arc and is just meant to tell you guys the aftermath before the beginning of the next one. The upcoming chapters will return to the normal length. 1B, Pro, teacher and Villain submissions are still open.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	15. Chapter 14

My Hero Academia: The Next Symbol

When Ken left the house that Monday morning, he didn't expect anything too unexpected to happen. Everyone in 1A went home at weekends, so Ken had done the same, and spent it with his parents, who were reconsidering even letting him go to UA after the happenings on Ken's second day at school, since he had luckily not been expelled. It had been three days since the last villain attack, and the immense coverage on it on the news and in general conversation was beginning to die down. After he left his apartment complex, he strolled out onto the bustling road,

"Man, I forgot to do my quirk science homework." He grunted. "Maybe I could do it on the train, it's only to describe my favourite heroes' quirk." Ken crossed the road, playing out the different scenarios in is head. He looked up to a huge skyscraper, and saw a WestTek add. 'The future of heroism" it read. Ken continued up the road, pulling out his phone to double-check the train times. A message came through. It was from Ichiro,

I: Hey dude, did you do the quirk science homework? I was at the Children's home I grew up in all weekend and I completely forgot.

K: No, sorry, I was actually going to ask you the same thing.

I: Well, that sucks, don't worry I'll ask Cora about it."

K: Cool. Thanks.

I: No problem

Ken switched his phone off and continued pacing down the concrete path. He didn't want detention from Mrs Koda; she could be pretty harsh. Once the train station was in sight, Ken's phone vibrated again, "Please tell me he's found it."

I: She didn't do it either.

Ken groaned startlingly loudly,

K: Ok. I guess I'll just have to take the brunt of it then.

The boy switched his phone off. "Geez. Almost expelled and now not doing homework. Maybe I really will be expelled this time." He fretted. Ken heard a yell.

"What was that?" He heard a man wearing a business suit say. He didn't hesitate. Ken charged to the area where the noise was coming from. Turing onto a smaller street, and then onto an alley, Ken heard muffled screams. The sounds were getting quieter. He finally arrived at an alleyway,

"Huh?" A slender man dressed in all black stood in the darkness; he wore a hood that completely covered his face. In front of the man, being clasped by the neck was a shorter, but bulkier man dressed in a polo shirt and jeans. His face was a ghostly pale, and he drooled from the mouth, whilst his eyes seemed to lack pupils. A peep of a groan came from the man,

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ken exclaimed. He acknowledged that he wasn't allowed to do hero work until he got permission, but he also knew that he couldn't leave the man. Reaching for his phone, Ken began speaking again,

"Stay right there, and I won't hurt you." Ken declared, hoping that his half-hearted threat would be taken seriously. Ken pressed the send help button on his phone, and a loud, droning, robot voice began speaking,

"Your location has been sent to the authorities, help is on the way."

"Crap." The hooded man in the alleyway muttered. His body began to ripple, and dissolved into black wispy smoke that looked like the aura of death itself. The smoke jaunted down the alleyway, blending with the shadows, leaving the drooling man crumpled on the floor. Ken was both mortified and stunned, but before he could scream as loud as he could, the dark smoke reached him, and entered his nostrils. Ken inhaled, but felt no air enter him, only an immense amount of pain in his head area. Suddenly, he felt completely drained of all energy. The struggling boy attempted to speak, however only a barely audible peep escaped his falling body.

* * *

"All right, class, time to get out your homework." Mrs Koda said. Ichiro took a deep breath as he watched his teacher circle around the class, taking in the sheets from all the people who had done it.

"We're screwed." He mouthed to Cora, who sat a few desks away. Literally everyone else did the homework piece. When Mrs Koda arrived at Cora's desk, she put her hand out for the homework. Cora flashed her adorable cat eyes and began spouting an excuse,

"Sorry Miss, I forgot."

"Not good enough, Miss Sangeki, you have detention, and you'll have a longer one tomorrow if you don't bring it in then." The teacher scolded. Ichiro saw Cora curse under her breath, which made him laugh, quietly. He searched the room for a sign of Ken. He still hadn't come in, but the two had messaged each other about the homework, which made Ichiro believe that he was coming; yet there was no sign of his friend at all.

"Kanzagi, homework please." Miss Koda, slightly intimidatingly, hovered over the boy. She was a relatively tall woman with dark grey skin and a well-toned figure. The woman sported charcoal colored hair styled into a tight fishtail braid along with calculating stormy grey eyes. A scar sat under he right eye, which made Ichiro consider where she got it.

"I didn't do it Miss." Ichiro admitted, shamefully,

"Of course you didn't." She snarled, fiercely. Ichiro was surprised at the remark, "You should've been expelled when you foolishly ran off to fight villains." An abundance of rage boiled inside Ichiro. ' _I did the right thing._ ' He thought. Wanting desperately to say something, Ichiro restrained himself, and sat up straight,

"Sorry Miss, I'll get it to you tomorrow."

"Good, Kanzagi, but you'll need to step up your game if you want to get into my good books, both of you." Mrs. Koda looked to Cora, then returned to the front desk and began teaching.

* * *

After class, Ichiro went out to the field, followed by Kaida and Hajime,

"So, Ichiro, I heard the class rep elections are coming up sometime soon." Kaida informed, "I think I'm gonna run."

"Yeah, you definitely should." Hajime said, kindly. A huge smile appeared on Kaida's face,

"Thanks! Are any of you guys gonna run for it?" All of the class had come into the field now, excluding Imari.

"I'm going to run." Yasuo declared, his light blue hair shining in the September sunlight.

"Do you really think anyone would vote for you?" Takeshi teased. An argument ensued, but it all became white noise to Ichiro as he thought about why Ken wasn't in. ' _did something happen?_ ' he worried.

"What's wrong, Kensuke." Hoshi asked,

"Nothing." He replied, swiftly, startled back to reality, ' _It probably is nothing.'_ he reassured himself.

* * *

After lunch, as the class were making their way to gym gamma for training, a voice began talking on the speakers,

"All of class 1A needs to return to their homeroom please, instead of going to training. Mr. Iwasaki has to speak to you." The feminine voice droned.

"Wonder what that's about." Ichiro said,

"1A sucks!" A boy from another class shouted, and sounds of agreement could be heard from all across the hall,

"Shut the hell up!" Takeshi shouted, which was consequently laughed at. Once everyone had arrived in class, Mr. Iwasaki stood from his desk,

"As you must've all noticed, Ken isn't in school today." Silence came from the class; they had no clue where this conversation was going. Ichiro's heartbeat got faster, "He was found, passed out and in critical condition, inside and alleyway, along with another man, authorities have no clue as to who attacked them." Sounds of surprise and worry came from the class,

"Is he alright?" Nano asked, calmly, lacking much facial expression,

"He's in a pretty bad way, but he's going to be fine given time to recover." Mr. Iwasaki assured,

"So my feeling was right." Ichiro muttered,

"Poor Ken." Cora said, "I hope he'll be alright." She turned to face Ichiro,

"Ken isn't weak. He can definitely handle himself. This needs to of been someone pretty strong." Ichiro deduced Mr. Iwasaki called for the class's attention,

"I've arranged for a hospital visit this afternoon." He said, "And training is unfortunately cancelled." Another round of noises came form the class, although this time it was disappointment,

"Was there any evidence at the scene?" Seth asked, curiously,

"None." Mr. Iwasaki responded, then sat down, "This has the most explosive start of a year I've ever had at UA." He sighed, sitting back in his chair. Nothing too interesting happened in the next twenty minutes, both Kobachi and Takashi cracked a few jokes, trying to lighten the mood, but it was futile. It wasn't until Mr. Iwasaki looked at his phone and told everyone that it was time to leave that anything remotely exciting happened. Ichiro was glad to know that Ken was okay, and wanted to see him. The class all got on the coach and it began rumbling along to Musutafu hospital.

* * *

The hospital visit was a bad idea. It was completely chaotic. Firstly, the class entered through the door, along with Mr. Iwasaki, who was bombarded by fans. Ichiro, Shimeka, Ellix, and the others who fought the villains at the government archive building were also recognized, although with less fondness. Next up, the sheer size of the class meant moving as a unit was a hassle, so Mr. Iwasaki came to the conclusion that they would go in groups, which would take turns to see Ken, whilst the others would wait. Ichiro was put in the second group of five, along with Kobachi, Kaida, Seth and Kado. Ichiro waited, impatiently, at the reception, until group one finally came down,

"Mr. Iwasaki said you guys could go up." Cora said,

"How is he?" Kensuke queried,

"He can barely move his head, and he's a bit tipsy on pain killers, but he's not dead, and he's gonna be that way either; So I think that's good enough for now." Cora uttered. Ichiro nodded,

"Ok, I'll see you when I get back down." Ichiro said, and then tailed his group up the stairs. They arrived at the third floor and walked past a bunch of patients, with Ichiro and Seth getting odd looks from a lot of people,

"This publicity is getting annoying." Seth grunted,

"Agreed." Ichiro said, as they continued to saunter down the hospital corridor,

"You guys did what was right. You have my respect." Kobachi commented. Ichiro and Seth looked surprised. Their classmates, for being too reckless, had mainly scolded the ragtag hero group. Kobachi was the only one who seemed to respect them for the decision. The group finally arrived at Ken's hospital bed. It was next to a large window at the end of the corridor. Ken himself looked horrible. His skin was pale, and his body appeared fragile, like an expensive piece of pottery,

"Hey man, how're you doing?" Kobachi asked, softly. It took so long for Ken to respond Ichiro was beginning to think the boy was asleep but, alas, his mouth opened, and words followed,

"Hey guys." He said, with a mix of both pleasure and annoyance at the site of more friends,

"Ken." Ichiro breathed a sigh of relief, "I hope you're doing alright."

"I feel completely sapped of energy, it hurts." He moaned. The others gave their condolences to the boy one by one then stepped back to let the next have ago. Mr. Iwasaki watched from a distance, and, once the exchange was finished, he strolled over,

"Come on guys, time to go. Ken, are you sure you want the others to come up." The teacher said, thoughtfully,

"Yeah, it's fine." Ken replied, completely carefree,

"Ok, then. You guys should head downstairs, let the next group come up." Nods came from everyone except Ichiro. He let the group walk a decent bit away until he turned back to the tipsy Ken lying on the hospital bed,

"Do you remember what the guy looks like?" He questioned,

"Ichiro… I already told a bunch of guys what I saw." Ken mumbled,

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, but is there anything else?" Ken stopped, and seemed to think for a while, although Ichiro suspected that he was simply dozing off with his eyes open. After a while Ken's hollow eyes finally perked up, slightly,

"Oh yeah, the man who attacked me could turn into black smoke." He recalled,

"Wait what?" Ichiro was startled,

"I already told the investigators."

"Ok then, fine, just get well soon." Ichiro patted his friend's shoulder,

"Yeah."

"Ichiro, time to head downstairs, we've got the situation under control." Mr. Iwasaki assured. Ichiro nodded, unsatisfied. Then walked along to join the others downstairs.

* * *

On the coach, Shen sat, thinking, worrying. The chaotic events recently had really put him under an intense amount of pressure,

"The situation keeps on getting worse and worse." He groaned. His hero outfit felt uncomfortable sitting down. He had protested against wearing it when teaching non-heroics subjects, but the school had insisted he kept up the Earth-Bender persona. There was a rumble from Shen's pocket; he took the cracked phone from his trousers and looked at the caller. It was the Musutafu Chief of Police, Reo Nakamura,

"Hopefully nothing else has happened." Shen uttered, hopefully. ' _Enough long-term damage has been done to our society already, things can't keep up like this._ ' He thought, then answered the phone,

"Earth Bender, is that you?" The hoarse voice of Chief Nakamura could be heard from the other side,

"Yeah." The Pro replied, matter-of-factly,

"Good. I need you to stop by the Musutafu police station tonight to discuss everything that's been going on recently. I've arranged for quite a few other Pros and senior officers to be there. It's crucial that the number one hero is there; you still give us a lot of hope." The Chief said,

"I'm flattered." Shen replied, unenthusiastically, "I'll definitely be there."

"Thank you. I'll make sure to tell the others. See you at nine-thirty tonight."

"Understood." Shen hung up the phone. "Can't catch a break today, can I?"

* * *

The last hour of the school day was pretty uninteresting. Shen let 1A train for the remainder of the time they had, and reserved a training room for them after school so they could continue if they wanted, and, to the teacher's surprise, a lot of them did just that, although a decent amount also left the premises to do something or returned to the dorms. Shen's plan was to head home, relax, and then get ready for the meeting. The Pro didn't enjoy luxuries, but still wanted to live comfortably, so he lived in a nice, decently sized house in the South-West of Musutafu. As soon as he got through the front door, Shen changed out of his hero outfit, hoping to wash away the fatigue of the day, but the attempt failed. After the shower, the Hero examined himself in the mirror. His athletic body was littered with scars from previous battles. The newest edition was a relatively large one, where the suit-wearing wannabe the poison villain had called Damnation had slashed him when his guard was down. Shen then took some time to relax, before checking his phone and seeing that it was eight forty-five.

"Time to get ready." He told himself. The Pro decided to wear a suit, but lacking a tie and with the top button undone. _'Here we go._ ' He thought.

* * *

"Earth Bender, glad you could make it." Chief Nakamura said as Shen entered the debriefing room. The room was filled with other high-up police officers and pros, including Assaultra, Archangel and a few others. Shen nodded at the group, then sat down on an empty chair,

"Alright, I think we're all here." Chief Nakamura said, "Now, as you all know, the people of Japan, heck, the world are in a state of panic. We just lost our best hero to some unknown force, and the government archives were almost breached."

"Do we know what they were looking for?" A young, female police officer asked, raising her hand,

"We're currently not sure, but, before Earth Bender showed up, it appears as though they were trying to access all the files on Captain Power." Nakamura said,

"The stunt those villains pulled off was incredibly sophisticated. These guys may be bigger than what we've ever seen before." Archangel commented, furrowing her pale brows,

"Agreed, and whilst our forces seem to be getting weaker, theirs seem to be getting stronger." Shen enunciated,

"The villains are using our own doubts against us, we need to make them believe that we're just as strong as we are, that might push them back." Chief Nakamura concluded,

"But we're not strong are we!" Shen snapped, startling everyone in the room, "Our beacon of hope dies and everything goes to hell, a society can't operate like that. Some incredibly powerful villain is out there, and they have to destroy us all, so we need to be smart. We need to use the time we have wisely, and use our resources correctly. We can't all act like this is just a problem that will tide over eventually, this is _serious_." There was venom in the last word, "The future may be in our hands, and we need to everything we can in order to stop it from falling into theirs." A long round of silence came from the room,

"Earth Bender, we are taking the situation seriously, but no good will come of getting angry about it." Nakamura said, wisely,

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, just, stressed out lately." Shen muttered. The wise officer nodded.

"We're putting security levels up to Stage Two. It seems like the villains have held back the assault recently, so I don't think a Stage Three is currently necessary. We'll have forces on high alert and have even more heavy guarding on key areas such as the Government Archive building." The Chief informed. The next few hours were spent discussing safety precautions that would have to be taken to avoid even further casualties. It wasn't until the meeting appeared to be coming to a close that Chief Nakamura mentioned something Shen had been meaning to discuss, "I know it may seem a little insignificant compared to our current case but I should mention it nonetheless. Throughout the last week, there have been cases of people being found isolated, mostly in alleyways and things of that manner, completely drained of all energy. Earth Bender, I believe a student of yours is one of these victims." Nakamura said, looking for confirmation,

"Yes." Shen nodded,

"And he was the only one that was able to give even a half-decent account of the events. Despite not being able to see the man's face, Ken said that he could turn into black smoke. This must be his quirk and has to be related to the complete draining of ones energy after this criminal attacks them. However, I acknowledge that we have bigger things to do now and this is the least of our concerns, but please try to keep an eye out." The Chief expressed. Shen was slightly annoyed at the lack of care toward the case, but he whole-heartedly understood and knew that there was bigger fish to fry. It was twenty minutes past midnight when the Chief rounded off the meeting,

"Thank you all for coming." Nakamura said, "Hopefully, as a combined force, we can sort all of this out." Shen nodded at the Chief and made his way out of the police building and toward his car. As he drove off back home he whispered to himself,

"It's been a long day."

 **Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If your character was accepted, could you send there hero costume if you haven't already. 1B, Hero and Villain OC submissions are still open. I would appreciate it if you could leave a review.**

 **Thanks again,**

 **VHC**


	16. Update 2

Hey guys! I'm still alive, believe it or not. I just wanted to let you guys know that i'm really sorry about how late the next chapter is. Don't worry, though, i haven't given up. I just had some personal problems that I'd rather not discuss then I had a bunch of other things going on and now I have exams. So know that the next chapter is on its way, but it will probably come after my exams are finished and I'm less stressed out.

Thanks for being so understanding,

VHC


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